Hugh Kelly

Lifford, Co Donegal

Hugh’s description of the weather over the last week paints an accurate picture for most of the country – it promised a lot but delivered little. There haven’t been huge volumes of rainfall in Donegal, however rain has fallen every day, which has been enough to stop any harvest progress.

Ground conditions are holding up well though, and Hugh believes this is in part due to warm soil temperatures.

Hugh decided to subsoil some of his winter wheat ground as conditions were dry enough.

Hugh harvested his Isabel winter oats last weekend. As he had no winter barley this year, this was his first crop to be harvested. He missed a timing for applying a plant growth regulator on this crop, meaning the straw was very tall, up to 1.5m in height in places. Despite windy conditions at times, the crop stood well and didn’t lodge.

Hugh was happy with the crop’s performance, yielding 3.6t/ac at 18.6% moisture. Specific weights came in at 48KPH. After leaving the straw to mature for a few days, he baled 1,300 small square bales on 14ac. Demand for small square bales is good in his area and the majority of these are now sold.

He then moved on to his Graham winter wheat crops. He noted an amount of heads on the ground, which he has never seen before. The crop averaged 3.6t/ac at between 22.5%-23.6% moisture content. Specific weights came in at around 67KPH.

Hugh decided to subsoil some of his winter wheat ground, as conditions were dry enough

The grain went straight to the mill and the straw was baled the following day. The straw yielded eight 4x4 round bales/ac. Hugh decided to subsoil some of his winter wheat ground, as conditions were dry enough. Then, he harvested a field of Prospect spring barley for feed. The crop was beginning to brackle in places, so harvesting this crop became a priority for him. Hugh was very pleased with the crop’s performance, yielding 3t/ac at 15.4% moisture, with specific weights of 57KPH. He was able to bale directly behind the combine, with the straw yielding seven round bales/ac. Hugh has dropped his plans for drilling winter oilseed rape this year, due to poor planting weather.

James O’Reilly

Ballyragget, Co Kilkenny

Broken weather over the past week continues to make the harvest a stop-start affair for James. Despite this, he was able to make good progress with harvesting spring crops and, weather permitting, he should be finished harvesting other farmers’ crops by the end of the week. Ground conditions have improved again over the last week, with little tracking in fields.

James applying a pre-emerge herbicide application of Legion (1.2l/ha) on his winter oilseed rape.

The broken weather is making straw very difficult to bale this year. When talking to James earlier this week, he still had 60% of his straw to bale, including all of his winter oilseed rape straw. From what is baled however, yields are all well back. In the case of winter wheat, he is averaging between 2.8-3 8x4x4 square bales/ac, back from his yearly average of four bales/ac. His spring barley is so far yielding two bales/ac, back from his usual 2.5-3 bales/ac.

Spring crop grain yields are mixed, with some crops under-performing while others are exceeding expectations. Spring oats are so far yielding around 2.7t/ac at 18% moisture, with specific weights of 52KPH. Spring barley crops are ranging from 2.7-3.2t/ac at 19.2% moisture, with specific weights of 62KPH. James planted the first crop of winter oilseed rape at the end of August. Aiming for 33 seeds/m2, he planted the variety Aurelia at 1.6kg/ha and DK Expansion at 2.1kg/ha.

He aims to plant more oilseed rape this week, but will increase the seeding rate to 42 seeds/m2 and increase the DAP rates to 150kg/ha

The crop was planted along with 100kg of Diammonium phosphate (DAP). The field was rolled after planting and the crop received a pre-emerge herbicide application of Legion (1.2l/ha). James will follow up with an application of the herbicide Stratus Ultra at the end of September and Kerb in December. He aims to plant more oilseed rape this week, but will increase the seeding rate to 42 seeds/m2 and increase the DAP rates to 150kg/ha. James has decided to grow Graham, JB Diego and Costello winter wheat again this year. He has selected the six-row hybrid winter barley variety Belfry, but will also sow the two-row variety LG Castings. He aims to apply a pre-emerge herbicide immediately after planting this year.

Tim Ronaldson

Naas, Co Kildare

The harvest in Kildare continues to be a struggle, with limited windows to get harvesting done and virtually no opportunity to bale straw. Around 143mm of rain fell on Tim’s farm in August and this has left its mark on the ground. Tim explains that on heavier land in particular, ground conditions are deteriorating.

Tim harvesting his peas last Tuesday which yielded 1.9t/ac at 20.6% moisture.

When talking to Tim last month, he was just about to start harvesting his winter wheat crops.

Despite taking two weeks to harvest the crops between showers, he was very happy with their performance. His Graham variety yielded 4t/ac, while Costello yielded 4.3t/ac. His Bennington yielded 4.1t/ac. Specific weights averaged 63KPH, while moistures ranged from 19-23.5%.

The straw proved to be a challenge to bale and yielded between 2-4 8x4x4 square bales/ac. He normally averages 4-4.25 bales/ac. There has been little stubble cultivating done and Tim explains that he is still aiming to plant a fodder crop to use as feed during the winter.

Tim then moved onto his Gangway crops, some of which were lodged. The crop yielded between 3-3.3t/ac, which he was very happy with

He then moved onto Planet spring barley, which was originally intended for malting barley. However, Tim decided to send it for feed instead, due to a high number of secondary tillers.

The crop yielded 2.95t/ac at 18%-21% moisture. Tim then moved onto his Gangway crops, some of which were lodged. The crop yielded between 3-3.3t/ac, which he was very happy with. While harvesting these crops was slow-going, the good yields made it worthwhile.

He harvested his peas last Tuesday, which yielded 1.9t/ac at 20.6% moisture. He was very happy with this result and intends on growing the crop again next year. He has around four days of harvesting left, between spring barley, spring oats and January-sown winter wheat crops, as well as his spring beans. He burned-off his beans last week and thinks they will be ready for harvest by the end of next week.

The crop looks good and Tim is hopeful about their yield potential. He is currently securing seed for the autumn and aims to drill winter barley later this month.