Navan,
Co Meath
Colm has made good progress with the harvest over the last week, helped by the settled spell of weather.
He has now completed harvesting all of his cereal crops and has tidied up the majority of the remaining straw. While ground conditions improved considerably over the past 10 days, he still had to be careful on headlands and wet corners. During the harvest, he used a chaser bin with flotation tyres, which he says are excellent for challenging conditions.
Colm rolling winter oilseed rape with a Ford 7810 Silver Jubilee on dual-wheels, which weights just 4.5t.
He finished cutting his 21ac of February-sown Cellule winter wheat last weekend. Colm explains that the crop looked better than it actually performed. It yielded under 2t/ac at 15% moisture content. He noted that the secondary tillers, which appeared in late spring, didn’t produce any grain and the heads were blown out the back of the combine as chaff. He decided to chop the straw.
He was happy with how his spring barley and oats performed this year. The Husky spring oats, which were grown for milling, passed and yielded 3t/ac. His spring barley crops averaged around 3t/ac at between 18% and 19% moisture.
The grain had a specific weight of between 62 and 65KPH. He noted a number of blind grains in his Errigal variety however, which reduced the yield to 2.7t/ac. This may have been caused by the late frost in spring. The best of Colm’s autumn-sown winter wheat crops averaged between 3.9-4.1t/ac.
Colm has made very good progress with baling straw over the past week and has now caught up
No grain was cut over 22% moisture and specific weights ranged from 79-83KPH. Two poorer fields, which were quite patchy, did yield around 3t/ac, however. The earliest of his Fanfare spring beans could be ready for harvest by the end of this week.
Colm has made very good progress with baling straw over the past week and has now caught up. Straw yields are back across the board. His spring barley yielded six 4x4 round bales/ac. This was exclusive of headlands however, which were chopped.
His winter wheat crops yielded two 8x4x4 square bales/ac. He chopped all of his oaten straw. After a slow start, Colm’s DK Exstar and DK Expansion winter oilseed rape crops are moving quite well. More on this next month.
Curracloe,
Co Wexford
When talking to Padraig last, he was due to be finished his potato harvest by the end of August, giving him ample time to complete the spring barley harvest.
However, poor weather disrupted these plans significantly and he is now racing to get the last of his early Rooster, crisping and salad potatoes harvested.
Potatoes take precedent on Curracloe Farm, so it’s all hands on deck to get finished for the season. His early Rooster crops are performing well, yielding in the region of 15t/ac.
Padraig finishing the his spring barley harvest last week.
Next, he will move onto Gemson salad potatoes, before finishing his Kivetz crisping crop. These potatoes will be stored off-site.
Ground conditions are described as ideal for harvesting. Once a field is cleared, the team generally subsoil the ground straight after the harvester, making it ready for the following winter cereal crop.
Padraig finished harvesting his onion crop last weekend. The crop was wind-rowed and allowed to dry for two days, before being lifted with a self-propelled harvester. The crop is bulk lifted into 30t artic trailers, which are pulled in the field with a tractor and dolly axle. The crop yielded around 20t/ac. Happy with its performance, he will likely grow an onion crop again next year.
The majority of his spring crops are destined for roasting and malting, most of which passed
His carrot crop is also ready for harvesting. Padraig will harvest this crop with his self-propelled potato harvester with the diablo rollers removed. The crop is bulk harvested into trailers.
He is now finished the cereal harvest, having cut the remainder of his spring barley last week. The majority of his spring crops are destined for roasting and malting, most of which passed. Padraig’s Gangway roasting crop averaged 3.1t/ac at 18% moisture. Protein levels came in at 9.4%, while specific weights were around 62KPH.
His Prospect malting crop yielded 2.9t/ac at 18% moisture. Proteins came in at 9.5%, while specific weights were around 63KPH. The straw is either baled or sold on the ledge. He expects straw to be tidied up this week. The later harvested crops appear to be baling into decent bulk, but yields are likely to be well back on straw that has been lying for some time.
Limavady,
Co Derry
Harvest 2020 drags on in the north-west. Unlike many areas around the country, the weather didn’t settle there last week, providing virtually no harvest opportunities.
The entire harvest is proving “very testing” explains Jonathan, who was harvesting spring barley when we spoke to him this week. Around 40ac of his remaining 140ac has lodged, and are proving a challenge to harvest.
So far however, the crops are yielding well, averaging around 3t/ac with no sprouting. The grain is coming in around 18-20% moisture.
If the weather holds this week, he will finish up his harvest. However, Jonathan notes that the weather forecast is proving to be very unreliable lately.
Jonathan was able to make progress with his spring barley harvest this week.
“I’ve never seen it as bad. There would be days when no rain would be forecast and it would rain heavily,” he said.
His winter wheat harvest was drawn out over three weeks. But the hardship was worth it, as he produced his highest grain yields to-date, averaging over 4t/ac dry. He grew Graham this year, which seems to suit his ground.
Jonathan has around 100ac of spring barley and winter wheat straw still lying. He turned some straw last week in anticipation of settled weather, but it didn’t materialise. His first priority now is to finish the grain harvest and he will then turn his attention to straw.
Jonathan’s maize crops look good and the foliage appears to be turning somewhat brown in colour
He planted 35ac of winter oilseed rape, all of which has established. While slug pressure isn’t severe in his area, he applied slug pellets around the headlands to keep the pests at bay. He will aim to apply a post-emergence herbicide in the coming days. Jonathan’s maize crops look good and the foliage appears to be turning somewhat brown in colour. The cobs are looking good too, but still have some time to go before they are mature.
He has been subsoiling some of his sandy, dry ground this week, in anticipation of winter cereals. He aims to drill some of his winter cereals into disced ground instead of ploughing. He thinks that crops established via min-till may conserve moisture better in the spring.
Navan,
Co Meath
Colm has made good progress with the harvest over the last week, helped by the settled spell of weather.
He has now completed harvesting all of his cereal crops and has tidied up the majority of the remaining straw. While ground conditions improved considerably over the past 10 days, he still had to be careful on headlands and wet corners. During the harvest, he used a chaser bin with flotation tyres, which he says are excellent for challenging conditions.
Colm rolling winter oilseed rape with a Ford 7810 Silver Jubilee on dual-wheels, which weights just 4.5t.
He finished cutting his 21ac of February-sown Cellule winter wheat last weekend. Colm explains that the crop looked better than it actually performed. It yielded under 2t/ac at 15% moisture content. He noted that the secondary tillers, which appeared in late spring, didn’t produce any grain and the heads were blown out the back of the combine as chaff. He decided to chop the straw.
He was happy with how his spring barley and oats performed this year. The Husky spring oats, which were grown for milling, passed and yielded 3t/ac. His spring barley crops averaged around 3t/ac at between 18% and 19% moisture.
The grain had a specific weight of between 62 and 65KPH. He noted a number of blind grains in his Errigal variety however, which reduced the yield to 2.7t/ac. This may have been caused by the late frost in spring. The best of Colm’s autumn-sown winter wheat crops averaged between 3.9-4.1t/ac.
Colm has made very good progress with baling straw over the past week and has now caught up
No grain was cut over 22% moisture and specific weights ranged from 79-83KPH. Two poorer fields, which were quite patchy, did yield around 3t/ac, however. The earliest of his Fanfare spring beans could be ready for harvest by the end of this week.
Colm has made very good progress with baling straw over the past week and has now caught up. Straw yields are back across the board. His spring barley yielded six 4x4 round bales/ac. This was exclusive of headlands however, which were chopped.
His winter wheat crops yielded two 8x4x4 square bales/ac. He chopped all of his oaten straw. After a slow start, Colm’s DK Exstar and DK Expansion winter oilseed rape crops are moving quite well. More on this next month.
Curracloe,
Co Wexford
When talking to Padraig last, he was due to be finished his potato harvest by the end of August, giving him ample time to complete the spring barley harvest.
However, poor weather disrupted these plans significantly and he is now racing to get the last of his early Rooster, crisping and salad potatoes harvested.
Potatoes take precedent on Curracloe Farm, so it’s all hands on deck to get finished for the season. His early Rooster crops are performing well, yielding in the region of 15t/ac.
Padraig finishing the his spring barley harvest last week.
Next, he will move onto Gemson salad potatoes, before finishing his Kivetz crisping crop. These potatoes will be stored off-site.
Ground conditions are described as ideal for harvesting. Once a field is cleared, the team generally subsoil the ground straight after the harvester, making it ready for the following winter cereal crop.
Padraig finished harvesting his onion crop last weekend. The crop was wind-rowed and allowed to dry for two days, before being lifted with a self-propelled harvester. The crop is bulk lifted into 30t artic trailers, which are pulled in the field with a tractor and dolly axle. The crop yielded around 20t/ac. Happy with its performance, he will likely grow an onion crop again next year.
The majority of his spring crops are destined for roasting and malting, most of which passed
His carrot crop is also ready for harvesting. Padraig will harvest this crop with his self-propelled potato harvester with the diablo rollers removed. The crop is bulk harvested into trailers.
He is now finished the cereal harvest, having cut the remainder of his spring barley last week. The majority of his spring crops are destined for roasting and malting, most of which passed. Padraig’s Gangway roasting crop averaged 3.1t/ac at 18% moisture. Protein levels came in at 9.4%, while specific weights were around 62KPH.
His Prospect malting crop yielded 2.9t/ac at 18% moisture. Proteins came in at 9.5%, while specific weights were around 63KPH. The straw is either baled or sold on the ledge. He expects straw to be tidied up this week. The later harvested crops appear to be baling into decent bulk, but yields are likely to be well back on straw that has been lying for some time.
Limavady,
Co Derry
Harvest 2020 drags on in the north-west. Unlike many areas around the country, the weather didn’t settle there last week, providing virtually no harvest opportunities.
The entire harvest is proving “very testing” explains Jonathan, who was harvesting spring barley when we spoke to him this week. Around 40ac of his remaining 140ac has lodged, and are proving a challenge to harvest.
So far however, the crops are yielding well, averaging around 3t/ac with no sprouting. The grain is coming in around 18-20% moisture.
If the weather holds this week, he will finish up his harvest. However, Jonathan notes that the weather forecast is proving to be very unreliable lately.
Jonathan was able to make progress with his spring barley harvest this week.
“I’ve never seen it as bad. There would be days when no rain would be forecast and it would rain heavily,” he said.
His winter wheat harvest was drawn out over three weeks. But the hardship was worth it, as he produced his highest grain yields to-date, averaging over 4t/ac dry. He grew Graham this year, which seems to suit his ground.
Jonathan has around 100ac of spring barley and winter wheat straw still lying. He turned some straw last week in anticipation of settled weather, but it didn’t materialise. His first priority now is to finish the grain harvest and he will then turn his attention to straw.
Jonathan’s maize crops look good and the foliage appears to be turning somewhat brown in colour
He planted 35ac of winter oilseed rape, all of which has established. While slug pressure isn’t severe in his area, he applied slug pellets around the headlands to keep the pests at bay. He will aim to apply a post-emergence herbicide in the coming days. Jonathan’s maize crops look good and the foliage appears to be turning somewhat brown in colour. The cobs are looking good too, but still have some time to go before they are mature.
He has been subsoiling some of his sandy, dry ground this week, in anticipation of winter cereals. He aims to drill some of his winter cereals into disced ground instead of ploughing. He thinks that crops established via min-till may conserve moisture better in the spring.
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