Broken weather has staggered harvest progress over the past week. Winter barley has now been completed with the exception of a handful of fields in the northwest.

Overall, yields and quality have been excellent with many growers achieving farm averages well in excess of 3.5t/ac at low moisture.

Most winter barley straw has now been baled and sold at between €20 and €25 per 4x4 round bale.

Good progress has also been made on winter oats. While some farmers are hitting 3.2t/ac on earlier crops, many others are achieving 3.75t/ac and even over 4t/ac.

Quality is also reasonably good. Much of this year’s winter oat straw is likely to be chopped under the Straw Incorporation Measure.

The spring barley harvest has also commenced and, so far, yield reports are very good.

The weekend saw large areas of spring malting barley cut in the south of the country, while the harvest kicked off in the midlands during the week.

Yields of 3.5t/ac are common with some growers reaching 4t/ac. Proteins of well below 9% have been reported in all cases however.

Boortmalt’s protein bands for 2021 are between 8.8% and 9.7% for distilling grade and brewing is at 9.9% to 10.8%. However, the Irish Farmers Journal understands barley with protein contents below 8.8% are being accepted.

Harvesting of winter oilseed rape is ongoing, with yields of between 1.3t/ac and 2t/ac reported with moistures of around 12%.

Crop damage

Heavy rainfall and wind over the past week saw many spring barley crops knocked on headlands or overlaps. However, there are some reports of severe lodging in later-sown crops.

Beans also took a hit, with some stalks breaking in the rougher conditions.

Recent hailstones knocked significant levels of grain from spring oat and barley crops in parts of Laois, while some maize crops were knocked over and had to be harvested as a result.