This week we revisit growers from Kildare, Down and Kerry. All areas have been affected by broken weather over the past month but the majority of the harvest was complete by the time it arrived. All growers this week have cover and forage crops established and most of them are doing well, helped in part by an early sowing date and adequate moisture levels

Andrew Bergin, Athy, Co Kildare

Broken weather over the last few weeks in Athy has done wonders for the earlier sown cover crops explains Andrew. Luckily the weather broke towards the end of harvest so progress wasn’t disrupted significantly.

The last of the spring barley was cut at the end of August. As expected, Andrew’s Limona seed barley crops did much better than his malting crops, averaging around 2.4t/ac. This was largely due to the crops being grown in cooler, fresher ground. Specific weights came in at 68 KPH at 16% moisture content. This is in contrast to specific weights of 60-63 KPH with screenings of 8-10% moisture on a sample of his failed malting barley. The average yield across all of his spring barley crops was 1.7t/ac, a result of the late spring and drought.

Andrew Bergin's phacelia, buckwheat and radish in spring oat stubble ahead of winter wheat.

He cut his spring beans three weeks ago, which averaged around 1.0t/ac at 21% moisture content, back a tonne and a half on average. However, once again, this year presented its own unique challenges. A number of weeks ago, areas of heavier soil types within the field started to produce late tillers which were still green at the time of harvest. Andrew had no choice but to leave these areas and flail them at a later stage.

“I had to leave around 20% of the field, it cost me 5-6 tonnes” explains Andrew.

Cover crops doing well

The early established cover crops, which consisted of buckwheat, phacelia and tillage radish, really took off after receiving rain three weeks ago. Since then, combinations of white mustard, linseed, buckwheat, phacelia, clover species, tillage and oil radish, linseed and vetch species were sown on winter and spring ground.

There are some slugs present in the crops. He’s still trialling the fertilisation of covers and this year plans to spread chicken manure pellets and Polysulphate on some covers in spring-crop ground. Andrew plans to burn off some covers soon in preparation for winter barley, oats and wheat which will be sown the coming month.

“Overall, it wasn’t a hard harvest to save and it was easy on machinery. Prices are better than expected but still not enough to close the gap in yields.”

Simon Best, Poyntzpass, Co Down

Similar to Andrew, the bulk of Simon’s harvest was completed by the time the weather turned in Poyntzpass. Overall, rainfall amounts have been small and because there was only a small area left to harvest, Simon could afford to wait until the weather was right before he cut the last of the barley and beans.

When talking to Simon last, he was finishing his winter oat harvest. The crop averaged 2.4t/ac. He moved onto spring oats shortly after, which disappointingly averaged under 2.0t/ac, well behind farm average.

Simon Best sowing DK Exclaim.

“There was a real mix in spring oat performance. South facing and exposed ground for example felt the brunt of the drought and heat, which affected yields significantly”, explains Simon.

Specific weights at the time of harvest were around 50 KPH at 17% moisture content. All oats were dried down to 12% using his 20t/hr Law Denis continuous flow dryer. Straw yields were also back, around five 4x4 round bales/ac. Simon finished harvesting his spring beans last week. “It was nice to be finished so early. Last year we were cutting beans in October”, explains Simon. The crop did 1.6t/ac at 19.5% moisture content. He was concerned at the speed at which the crop ripened but considering the weather this season, he was happy with their performance. Westerwolds was slower than expected. His 25ac of Westerwolds ryegrass is developing well but Simon doesn’t think that he’ll have enough of a crop to bale this year. He plans to apply some cattle slurry in the next few weeks to encourage growth.

His oilseed rape was drilled at the end of August in good conditions. Simon sowed both DK Existential and DK Exclaim at 40 seeds/m2 using his Horsch Express drill following a pass with a Sumo Trio. The field was rolled after drilling and he is keeping an eye on the slug population. A pre-emergent herbicide of Banastar (2.5l/ha) was applied and any crop at the two-leaf stage last week received a grass-weed herbicide of Rango (2.0l/ha).

“It was a really straightforward harvest, easy on management, machinery, drying, soils and everything. It is unfortunate about yields however”.

Ronan Barron Tralee, Co Kerry

Rainfall amounts in Tralee during the month of August were close to normal. This has undoubtedly helped the development of Ronan’s forage cover crops.

The harvest was finished over three weeks ago which is early for the southwest region, “We normally would be at either corn or straw up until the first of October”, explains Ronan.

The spring harvest went well in Kerry with good yields reported from the area. Ronan’s crops were no different and his spring barley yielded between 2.9–3.6t/ac. The quality of the grain sample was excellent, “The grains were plump and seemed to weigh very well this year” explains Ronan. Average moisture ranged from 18%-21%. Average straw yields were around eight 4x4 round bales/ac. Ronan moved into his Yukon spring oats straight after barley which did around 3.57t/ac.

His oats were sown on wet, heavy ground which was perfectly suited to the conditions of this year. The quality of the grain sample was high and moisture came in around 19-21%. Straw yields from his oat crops were around seven 4x4 bales/ac.

Ronan Barron harvesting Yukon spring oats a number of weeks ago.

Variety of cover crops sown

As cereal ground was cleared early, this gave Ronan an opportunity to sow a number of fodder catch crops. His early sown Interval forage rape, which was drilled in July, is around 70cm in height. His forage rye is now at the three-leaved stage, his Westerwolds ryegrass is at the two-leaf stage and the later sown forage rape now has four leaves.

The early sown forage rape crops were brought up to around 125kg N/ha using a combination of 18:6:13 and urea. So far, the later sown crops have received 370 kg/ha of 18:6:12 and will also be brought up to 125kg N/ha. The plan is to graze the early sown crops within the next number of weeks. The boundaries of the fields will have to be fenced before a temporary electric fence can be erected to allow strip grazing. He plans to sow Belfry and Quadra winter barley within the next month.

“The harvest was a bit stop-start but it was nowhere near as torturous as last year or the year before.”

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