John Carroll,
Ardee, Co Louth
“It’s been a frustrating, stop-start harvest. Yields have been ok, about 3t/ha for spring barley. That’s probably back 20% on a fortnight ago. The rain hasn’t done it any favour. We’ve had 110mm in August alone and we don’t need anymore.
“Ground conditions are holding up alright though. We baled some straw on Monday, 8x4x3 bales. There’s probably two and a half, maybe three bales to the acre but that was four bales to the acre a fortnight ago.
“The tramlines in our spud field are a lot trickier. They’re full of water and are at capacity right now and will need a significant dry spell.”
Dermot Ward,
Slane, Co Meath
“I think the spring barley crops are surprising a lot of people here. They’re harvesting better than they looked in a lot of cases. The early crops were very light and patchy but this week they’re doing better than they looked. I’d say the average yield is in and around 2.5t/ac with some exceptional crops doing 3t/ac. There’s a reasonable amount of straw too. We baled some on Sunday and got eight 4x4 bales to the acre. There are big difficulties with seed grain because it’s only acceptable up to 21.5% moisture and that’s been difficult to meet due to the pure amount of rain.
“You might have two dry days, then a wet day, so this harvest is turning into a salvage operation.”
Conor Sheeran, Rathfriland, Co Down
Conor Sheeran.
“The winter wheat is being harvested at the moment and I haven’t a figure yet but I’d say it’ll be around 3t/ac. I would usually be up around four.
“I’ve harvested my winter barley and my winter oilseed rape and I’m reasonably pleased with both given the year it’s been. The winter barley yielded at three tonnes and the oilseed rape at 1.65 tonnes.
“Straw yields have been poor though, around five bales to the acre for winter wheat. It was a very short crop this year. It took a hiding in May when all the moisture was sucked out of it.
“After the wheat is done I’ll just have spring oats to harvest. It’s looking very green at the moment but it’ll have to be cut come 10 September.”
Jim O’Regan,
Kinsale, Co Cork
“We have one week of harvesting to do of later ripening crops. Storm damage has cracked off heads and there are ears lying on the ground that won’t be picked up.
“I would be extremely critical of the main farming organisation, in particular the grain committee, for not being on the ground with farmers in their hour of need.
“If this was dairy, the IFA would be out in front highlighting the plight of the farmers affected. Just because it’s tillage, it’s of no concern to them.”
Raymond Quinn, Nohoval, Co Cork
“Two weeks ago, yields were at 3.5t/ac at 16% moisture and passing for malting barley [specifications]. After the two storms, we’re now back to 2t/ac to 2.5t/ac at 23% moisture and failing for malting barley.
“Fields are very tough. You can’t travel in some of them. Ground conditions are very bad. I’ve 150ac yet to harvest, I’ve half of the spring wheat and barley cut.”
James O’Brien,
Bandon and Kinsale, Co Cork
James O’Brien grows 135 acres of cereals – wheat, oats, and barley – along with his father Finbarr in south Cork. They are based close to Bandon and grow some crops much further south. They have only 10ac left to harvest – some spring barley where the ground was too wet up to now, and 4ac of Spotlight spring wheat which stood up very well to the recent bad weather.
One field of spring oats, sown to Isabel and Husky close to Bandon, had some losses but yielded 3.25t/ac at 15.6% moisture and 52 specific weight.
In that field the Isabel stood tall while the Husky had broken down. But the heads on that Isabel looked as though they would not withstand another big blow.
Isabel oats sown by the sea near the Old Head of Kinsale bore the brunt of storm Francis, however. Basically, the whipping, gusting, winds stripped a lot of the spikelets from the standing stems.
Extent of loss
It is not possible to know the extent of this loss, but James believes that this crop was as good as a different one, which yielded 3.5 t/ac at under 15% moisture.
At least 50% of that crop out at the Old Head was on the ground at harvest.
Eddie Doyle,
Mooncoin,
Co Kilkenny
“We have made good progress with the harvest through the weekend. We didn’t get the ‘wet and windy May’ to fill the sheds. The wet and windy August has now done its damage. There is a lot of grain on the ground since the two storms – oats in particular. Malt barley is passing on quality, although moistures are a challenge.
“The late-sown barley was our best. Overall, it’s averaged a little over 2.5t. The winter wheat was our best performer, averaging over 5t/ac, but we only planted half what we wanted to last autumn due to weather conditions.”
John Crowley, Ferns, Co Wexford
“We’re finished cutting except for the beans. Spring barley averaged 3t/ac on average, which was a relief. There’s a lot of barley left on the ground, which was frustrating. Quality has been very variable. The majority of my malting barley failed on a combination of issues, skinning, protein, and germination. Winter barley also yielded 3t/ac. The harsh winter on an exposed site took its toll.”
John Carroll,
Ardee, Co Louth
“It’s been a frustrating, stop-start harvest. Yields have been ok, about 3t/ha for spring barley. That’s probably back 20% on a fortnight ago. The rain hasn’t done it any favour. We’ve had 110mm in August alone and we don’t need anymore.
“Ground conditions are holding up alright though. We baled some straw on Monday, 8x4x3 bales. There’s probably two and a half, maybe three bales to the acre but that was four bales to the acre a fortnight ago.
“The tramlines in our spud field are a lot trickier. They’re full of water and are at capacity right now and will need a significant dry spell.”
Dermot Ward,
Slane, Co Meath
“I think the spring barley crops are surprising a lot of people here. They’re harvesting better than they looked in a lot of cases. The early crops were very light and patchy but this week they’re doing better than they looked. I’d say the average yield is in and around 2.5t/ac with some exceptional crops doing 3t/ac. There’s a reasonable amount of straw too. We baled some on Sunday and got eight 4x4 bales to the acre. There are big difficulties with seed grain because it’s only acceptable up to 21.5% moisture and that’s been difficult to meet due to the pure amount of rain.
“You might have two dry days, then a wet day, so this harvest is turning into a salvage operation.”
Conor Sheeran, Rathfriland, Co Down
Conor Sheeran.
“The winter wheat is being harvested at the moment and I haven’t a figure yet but I’d say it’ll be around 3t/ac. I would usually be up around four.
“I’ve harvested my winter barley and my winter oilseed rape and I’m reasonably pleased with both given the year it’s been. The winter barley yielded at three tonnes and the oilseed rape at 1.65 tonnes.
“Straw yields have been poor though, around five bales to the acre for winter wheat. It was a very short crop this year. It took a hiding in May when all the moisture was sucked out of it.
“After the wheat is done I’ll just have spring oats to harvest. It’s looking very green at the moment but it’ll have to be cut come 10 September.”
Jim O’Regan,
Kinsale, Co Cork
“We have one week of harvesting to do of later ripening crops. Storm damage has cracked off heads and there are ears lying on the ground that won’t be picked up.
“I would be extremely critical of the main farming organisation, in particular the grain committee, for not being on the ground with farmers in their hour of need.
“If this was dairy, the IFA would be out in front highlighting the plight of the farmers affected. Just because it’s tillage, it’s of no concern to them.”
Raymond Quinn, Nohoval, Co Cork
“Two weeks ago, yields were at 3.5t/ac at 16% moisture and passing for malting barley [specifications]. After the two storms, we’re now back to 2t/ac to 2.5t/ac at 23% moisture and failing for malting barley.
“Fields are very tough. You can’t travel in some of them. Ground conditions are very bad. I’ve 150ac yet to harvest, I’ve half of the spring wheat and barley cut.”
James O’Brien,
Bandon and Kinsale, Co Cork
James O’Brien grows 135 acres of cereals – wheat, oats, and barley – along with his father Finbarr in south Cork. They are based close to Bandon and grow some crops much further south. They have only 10ac left to harvest – some spring barley where the ground was too wet up to now, and 4ac of Spotlight spring wheat which stood up very well to the recent bad weather.
One field of spring oats, sown to Isabel and Husky close to Bandon, had some losses but yielded 3.25t/ac at 15.6% moisture and 52 specific weight.
In that field the Isabel stood tall while the Husky had broken down. But the heads on that Isabel looked as though they would not withstand another big blow.
Isabel oats sown by the sea near the Old Head of Kinsale bore the brunt of storm Francis, however. Basically, the whipping, gusting, winds stripped a lot of the spikelets from the standing stems.
Extent of loss
It is not possible to know the extent of this loss, but James believes that this crop was as good as a different one, which yielded 3.5 t/ac at under 15% moisture.
At least 50% of that crop out at the Old Head was on the ground at harvest.
Eddie Doyle,
Mooncoin,
Co Kilkenny
“We have made good progress with the harvest through the weekend. We didn’t get the ‘wet and windy May’ to fill the sheds. The wet and windy August has now done its damage. There is a lot of grain on the ground since the two storms – oats in particular. Malt barley is passing on quality, although moistures are a challenge.
“The late-sown barley was our best. Overall, it’s averaged a little over 2.5t. The winter wheat was our best performer, averaging over 5t/ac, but we only planted half what we wanted to last autumn due to weather conditions.”
John Crowley, Ferns, Co Wexford
“We’re finished cutting except for the beans. Spring barley averaged 3t/ac on average, which was a relief. There’s a lot of barley left on the ground, which was frustrating. Quality has been very variable. The majority of my malting barley failed on a combination of issues, skinning, protein, and germination. Winter barley also yielded 3t/ac. The harsh winter on an exposed site took its toll.”
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