This week we revisit growers from Wexford, Laois and Galway. The true consequences of the late spring and prolonged dry spell will soon be realised as combines make their way into spring crops. While there isn’t huge yield potential for these crops, this week’s growers are enthusiastic at the prospects of an early spring crop harvest.
Ballycarney,
Co. Wexford
At long last the rain has arrived in Ballycarney, which will help to ease the 75mm soil moisture deficit, explains Julian.
This was the first rain to arrive since 17 June but his spring barley crops are long past the stage where rain could benefit grain yield.
His spring barley is around a week away from harvest. The grain is ripening fast. Soil type is dictating the current condition of the crop and there’s generally a huge variation in soil types across each field.
In the medium-heavy soil types, crops have held their own but are thin and short. “In normal years crops would look impressive at this stage but they just look awney in comparison,” says Julian.
The grain is small but has filled well. However crops on lighter soils are looking very poor.
“The crops just burnt up, you can see the ground when you’re walking through them.”
The grain in these areas looks shrivelled. Julian explains that it’s not practical to harvest these areas of the fields separately.
With the combines, trailers and telehandler serviced, the countdown is now on until harvest 2018 begins.
Harvest fire risk
The rain was just enough to wet the dust but it did help to reduce the fire risk.
“The ground was so dry, there was a huge risk for a few weeks, the rain has quelled this for the moment.”
Julian has been feeding 2018’s hay to his suckler cow herd for the past three weeks.
“The grass has just disappeared and we’re using hay which we intended on using during winter,” explains Julian.
Julian grows a lot of malting barley and believes that Boortmalt increasing the protein limit for malting barley was the right move.
“I hope they’re considering doing the same with screenings, it has to be above 8% as there will be issues this year,” he remarks.
He thinks making the distilling grade could prove near impossible.
“The weather would need to settle so we can have a good, safe harvest and get everything saved this year.”
John harvesting wholecrop spring barley. Yields were good, between 8-9t/ac.
Portlaoise,
Co Laois
With 32mm of rain over the weekend, 16mm last weekend and intermittent showers since, soil moisture deficits have been brought back to around 50mm on Eugene’s farm.
The rain was well timed, as all of Eugene’s winter crops are harvested and baled and his spring crops are still a week away from harvest.
The winter barley harvest started on 8 July and finished four days later. Eugene’s winter barley performed well, averaging 4.0t/ac at 15% moisture and busheled 67KPH.
Straw yields were also very good, averaging 14 4x4 round bales/acre.
Overall the winter harvest went smoothly with his John Deere 2254 combine.
Between his own crops and those cut on contract there was no significant difference between the Carnival and Infinity barley but Cassia yields were back 0.5t/ ac. Straw yields were also back with Cassia but the crop busheled very well.
Spring crops this week
Eugene’s spring barley harvest could start as early as this week. The crops are a small bit uneven, however.
“The rain will have made a difference to ripeness, the crop should be that bit easier to thrash now,” said Eugene. While the crops are reasonable looking, he isn’t expecting any record breaking yields. Eugene welcomed Boortmalt’s decision to raise their protein limits.
His spring oilseed rape is “average looking” at best and he doesn’t see a massive yield potential in the crop. The crop has fewer pods with smaller grains and is beginning to turn much earlier than normal.
Eugene’s ground is well suited to spring rape. In the past 13 years, he has only yielded below 1.5t/ac once. “This year, however, I’d be surprised if the crop will do a tonne to the acre.”
This week Eugene plans to sow a phacelia and vetch cover crop mix under GLAS, as well as an additional area not included under the scheme: “I’ll sow a cover crop in the fields where, I’m not sowing winter cereals.
“Straw demand is exceptional and I will be short on straw this year, spring straw yields will be back.
“I have regular customers who I have to see to.”
Eugene finishing up a quick winter barley harvest.
Ballinasloe,
Co Galway
Last Friday marked the arrival of rain to Ballinasloe for the first time in a number of weeks. Galway has been under as much pressure due to the drought as southern and eastern counties explains John. While the rain won’t benefit cereals, it will significantly help with grass growth. John has been feeding silage to his ewes for the past three weeks.
Harvest
John harvests winter crops on contract for a number of farmers and yields have been very reasonable. Having started on the 13 June, the earliest he can recall, good progress was made with his Claas Lexion 620 combine with a 20ft header.
Yields in the area were close to 4.0t/ac at low moistures. Straw yields were also excellent. There is little winter oats in the area and winter wheat is still around two weeks away from harvest.
His spring barley is around two and a half weeks from harvest. The grains seem to be ripening but the straw is very green. His Gangway crop appears to be maturing earlier than others. The crops are thin but he is happy with grain fill,
“Where the crop produced five tillers, only three survived due to the drought”. There appears to be a number of blank grains on his Irena crop. The head is also twisting slightly. The crop will be sprayed with glyphosate (1.0l/ha) within the next week to kill any green grains”.
His spring oats are turning very fast and John thinks they will be ready around the same time as his barley. “I had a fantastic crop but it’s coming in too fast now.”
The crop will be sprayed off soon.
Slight increase in wholecrop demand
John wholecrops cereals for a number of regular customers every year. There’s only a handful of new customers this year, despite the high demand.
He is currently whole-cropping arable silage and many of the spring cereals harvested yielded well, reaching 8.0-9.0t/ac. He uses his Claas 870 forage harvester with a 5m Claas Direct Disc 500P header.
“We’re waiting on ground to soften before we can do any reseeding, we’ll be busy in the back end of the year.”
John harvesting wholecrop spring barley. Yields were good, between 8-9t/ac.
Read more
Tillage management: fine tune the combine for the crop and the season
From the Tramlines: winter crop harvest moving well
Increase in maximum distilling protein – Boortmalt
This week we revisit growers from Wexford, Laois and Galway. The true consequences of the late spring and prolonged dry spell will soon be realised as combines make their way into spring crops. While there isn’t huge yield potential for these crops, this week’s growers are enthusiastic at the prospects of an early spring crop harvest.
Ballycarney,
Co. Wexford
At long last the rain has arrived in Ballycarney, which will help to ease the 75mm soil moisture deficit, explains Julian.
This was the first rain to arrive since 17 June but his spring barley crops are long past the stage where rain could benefit grain yield.
His spring barley is around a week away from harvest. The grain is ripening fast. Soil type is dictating the current condition of the crop and there’s generally a huge variation in soil types across each field.
In the medium-heavy soil types, crops have held their own but are thin and short. “In normal years crops would look impressive at this stage but they just look awney in comparison,” says Julian.
The grain is small but has filled well. However crops on lighter soils are looking very poor.
“The crops just burnt up, you can see the ground when you’re walking through them.”
The grain in these areas looks shrivelled. Julian explains that it’s not practical to harvest these areas of the fields separately.
With the combines, trailers and telehandler serviced, the countdown is now on until harvest 2018 begins.
Harvest fire risk
The rain was just enough to wet the dust but it did help to reduce the fire risk.
“The ground was so dry, there was a huge risk for a few weeks, the rain has quelled this for the moment.”
Julian has been feeding 2018’s hay to his suckler cow herd for the past three weeks.
“The grass has just disappeared and we’re using hay which we intended on using during winter,” explains Julian.
Julian grows a lot of malting barley and believes that Boortmalt increasing the protein limit for malting barley was the right move.
“I hope they’re considering doing the same with screenings, it has to be above 8% as there will be issues this year,” he remarks.
He thinks making the distilling grade could prove near impossible.
“The weather would need to settle so we can have a good, safe harvest and get everything saved this year.”
John harvesting wholecrop spring barley. Yields were good, between 8-9t/ac.
Portlaoise,
Co Laois
With 32mm of rain over the weekend, 16mm last weekend and intermittent showers since, soil moisture deficits have been brought back to around 50mm on Eugene’s farm.
The rain was well timed, as all of Eugene’s winter crops are harvested and baled and his spring crops are still a week away from harvest.
The winter barley harvest started on 8 July and finished four days later. Eugene’s winter barley performed well, averaging 4.0t/ac at 15% moisture and busheled 67KPH.
Straw yields were also very good, averaging 14 4x4 round bales/acre.
Overall the winter harvest went smoothly with his John Deere 2254 combine.
Between his own crops and those cut on contract there was no significant difference between the Carnival and Infinity barley but Cassia yields were back 0.5t/ ac. Straw yields were also back with Cassia but the crop busheled very well.
Spring crops this week
Eugene’s spring barley harvest could start as early as this week. The crops are a small bit uneven, however.
“The rain will have made a difference to ripeness, the crop should be that bit easier to thrash now,” said Eugene. While the crops are reasonable looking, he isn’t expecting any record breaking yields. Eugene welcomed Boortmalt’s decision to raise their protein limits.
His spring oilseed rape is “average looking” at best and he doesn’t see a massive yield potential in the crop. The crop has fewer pods with smaller grains and is beginning to turn much earlier than normal.
Eugene’s ground is well suited to spring rape. In the past 13 years, he has only yielded below 1.5t/ac once. “This year, however, I’d be surprised if the crop will do a tonne to the acre.”
This week Eugene plans to sow a phacelia and vetch cover crop mix under GLAS, as well as an additional area not included under the scheme: “I’ll sow a cover crop in the fields where, I’m not sowing winter cereals.
“Straw demand is exceptional and I will be short on straw this year, spring straw yields will be back.
“I have regular customers who I have to see to.”
Eugene finishing up a quick winter barley harvest.
Ballinasloe,
Co Galway
Last Friday marked the arrival of rain to Ballinasloe for the first time in a number of weeks. Galway has been under as much pressure due to the drought as southern and eastern counties explains John. While the rain won’t benefit cereals, it will significantly help with grass growth. John has been feeding silage to his ewes for the past three weeks.
Harvest
John harvests winter crops on contract for a number of farmers and yields have been very reasonable. Having started on the 13 June, the earliest he can recall, good progress was made with his Claas Lexion 620 combine with a 20ft header.
Yields in the area were close to 4.0t/ac at low moistures. Straw yields were also excellent. There is little winter oats in the area and winter wheat is still around two weeks away from harvest.
His spring barley is around two and a half weeks from harvest. The grains seem to be ripening but the straw is very green. His Gangway crop appears to be maturing earlier than others. The crops are thin but he is happy with grain fill,
“Where the crop produced five tillers, only three survived due to the drought”. There appears to be a number of blank grains on his Irena crop. The head is also twisting slightly. The crop will be sprayed with glyphosate (1.0l/ha) within the next week to kill any green grains”.
His spring oats are turning very fast and John thinks they will be ready around the same time as his barley. “I had a fantastic crop but it’s coming in too fast now.”
The crop will be sprayed off soon.
Slight increase in wholecrop demand
John wholecrops cereals for a number of regular customers every year. There’s only a handful of new customers this year, despite the high demand.
He is currently whole-cropping arable silage and many of the spring cereals harvested yielded well, reaching 8.0-9.0t/ac. He uses his Claas 870 forage harvester with a 5m Claas Direct Disc 500P header.
“We’re waiting on ground to soften before we can do any reseeding, we’ll be busy in the back end of the year.”
John harvesting wholecrop spring barley. Yields were good, between 8-9t/ac.
Read more
Tillage management: fine tune the combine for the crop and the season
From the Tramlines: winter crop harvest moving well
Increase in maximum distilling protein – Boortmalt
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