Conall has been very busy over the past week drilling spring barley, with planting continuing until 5am on Saturday when heavy rain arrived.

Seventy-five per cent of spring crops are planted, with the remainder being located on very heavy land that will not be dry enough to plough for a couple of weeks.

Conall got his first spring barley planted three weeks ago at Easter. Conditions were just OK, and Skyway went in at 200kg/ha. This barley was not rolled. Last week, more barley was sowed into great conditions. Geraldine was drilled at 210kg/ha, and more Skyway was also planted. Most of this ground got rolled before the rain. Conall notes that there are patches or corners that were too wet to travel on in nearly every field and will not be sowed this year.

The winter barley received its first spray three weeks ago. This consisted of Decoy 250 EC (0.7l/ha) and Comet 200 (0.8l/ha), with either Medax Max (0.4kg/ha) or 1.25l/ha of CeCeCe 750 and 0.2l/ha of Moddus 250 EC included, depending on the field. A second spray was applied in the past few days. Revystar XL (1l/ha) and Arizona (1.5l/ha) are being applied alongside Terpal (1.5l/ha). There are very small bits of BYDV present in his KWS Joyau crop as this did not receive an aphicide. However, Conall hopes that the BYDV tolerance of this variety will prevent yield from being affected. The barley has received all its fertiliser and sits at between 155 and 185kg N/ha, depending on whether organic manure had been applied or not. Overall, Conall says his barley crops are currently looking brilliant.

The winter oats received its first spray this week which Conall says should have been applied last week but spring planting was prioritised. Midas (0.5l/ha), Medax Max (0.2kg/ha), and CeCeCe 750 (1l/ha) were applied. The oats received all its nitrogen fertiliser at once (125kg/ha) as it was applied later than planned due to the poor weather at the time.

Wind and rain have made field applications tricky for Neill over the past couple of weeks. Ground conditions and cool night-time temperatures have also proved to be challenging.

Palisade (0.15l/ha), Belcocel (1l/ha), and manganese were applied to Neill’s winter barley at the end of March. It then received Siltra (0.7l/ha) and EPSO Combitop (12.5kg/ha) on 8 April. Axial Pro was applied this week to control wild oats.

Fertiliser was finished on the barley on 14 April, with a total of 205kg/ha of nitrogen. Neill says that the crop looks very even and has a great colour to it despite the wet spring. There is no BYDV or disease present in the crop.

Neill spraying his SY Kingsbarn winter barley.

Neill had half of his winter wheat sprayed with his T1 application before the rain at the weekend and hoped to have it fully completed in the past couple of days. The wheat received Ascra Xpro (1.2l/ha) and Arizona (1.2l/ha). It also received Belcocel (1l/ha), Palisade (0.15l/ha), and EPSO Combitop. The wheat received its main split of nitrogen on 15 April and is currently at 175kg N/ha. The wheat was rolled in the dry spell in February as it was not dry enough after drilling. Neill says that some spots are showing stress now because of this, but it is a small area overall.

Over the past week, Neill has been busy with a new crop of chicks arriving to his broiler unit and spreading broiler chicken litter on ground destined for maize at 12t/ha. The ground is ploughed immediately after. Neill will drill the maize when the weather settles. This will be seven to 10 days later than usual due to the wet weather and the new biodegradable film. Neill sees the benefits of the new film, with quicker growth and reduced stress on the plant as it breaks through the film. he says the biofilm he used last year has degraded very well.

The weather has greatly improved in Cork since last speaking to John, with very little rain falling after 15 April until this weekend.

Ploughing started on 16 April, with RGT Planet and Geraldine spring barley drilled in the following days. The ground was furrow-pressed before being drilled with a one-pass system. John aimed for a plant population of 300-310 plants/m2.

John spraying his LG Auckland winter oilseed rape on Sunday.

None of the spring cereals have been rolled yet as John is wary of the tenderness of the soil underneath the tractor tyres. John is still waiting on some land to dry out. He hopes to plough and sow this land in the coming week.

The spring wheat and oats trials drilled in early March are beginning to tiller. John has applied a herbicide and an aphicide to these crops. The spring beans now have eight leaves expanded. There is very little evidence of bean weevil damage in the crop this year. Therefore, no insecticide is being applied.

The winter oilseed rape is in full flower. Proline and EPSO Bortop was applied on Sunday to prevent sclerotinia. The crop looks well and has a good podset so far. The dry weather over the past couple of weeks has aided pollination.

The winter barley on the farm was due to receive a growth regulator of Terpal over the weekend but forecasted low temperatures meant that John delayed this and hopes to have it applied in the coming days.

John has noticed a striking difference in terms of Septoria levels between his October and December drilled winter wheat crops. The October drilled crop will receive its Leaf 3 spray of Revystar XL and Arizona this week, with a growth regulator also included. The December-sown crop looks excellent and is currently at GS30.

Once the remaining spring crops are drilled, John’s focus will turn to planting wild bird cover and riparian buffer zones for ACRES.

These areas are very low-lying and do not reliably produce good commercial crops.