Limavady,
Co Derry
Jonathan has been able to make good progress with his harvest after a decent spell of weather. However, conditions changed this week as the rain arrived, bringing harvest work to an abrupt stop.
He finished his winter barley last Saturday, saving the best field for last. The crop wasn’t treated prior to harvest and took some time to mature, but yielded over 3t/ac. This straw is proving a challenge to bale however, and remains green.
The rest of his winter barley yielded between 2.5-2.75t/ac, with specific weights of between 62.5 to 66KPH. Moistures ranged from 16-20%. Some of his winter barley ground was particularly badly affected by the drought earlier in the season. Straw yields were also back, at around seven 8x3x2.5 bale/ac, three bales behind average. Straw demand in the area is good.
Jonathan was planting winter oilseed rape this week in good conditons.
Jonathan harvested his winter oilseed rape two weeks ago. The crop was sown on very sandy soil and the weather this year didn’t suit it. The crop yielded around 1.2t/ac at 12% moisture content. He baled a small amount of the oilseed straw on request, but chopped the rest. He topped the rape stubble and is aiming to direct-drill winter cereals into some of these fields in the autumn.
His spring barley crops likely won’t be harvested until the end of the month and look promising
After already planting 100ac for a neighbour, Jonathan is aiming to plant his 2021 winter oilseed crops this week. He will establish this crop using a plough and one-pass drill, sowing at a rate of 2.5kg/ha.
His winter wheat crops are looking very well and he is optimistic about the crops yield potential. The crop remains quite green however, and Jonathan thinks it is at least 10 days from harvest.
His spring barley crops likely won’t be harvested until the end of the month and look promising. With the exception of 12ac, which had the plastic blown off earlier in the season, Jonathan’s maize crops are doing well. He is planning on spreading chicken manure on winter crop ground before cultivating and ploughing in the autumn. Chicken manure has played a vital role in building soil organic matter levels in Jonathan’s sandy soils.
Navan,
Co Meath
Broken weather patterns are making the harvest a tricky one in Meath. The forecast for this week is mixed, so Colm likely won’t be cutting. However, his remaining crops are barely fit, meaning he isn’t under significant pressure to harvest them.
When talking to Colm last, he had just started his winter barley harvest. Over the space of a week, he harvested all of the crop, around 80ac worth. The crop averaged 3.25t/ac at 18.5% moisture. He is pleasantly surprised with this, considering the difficult growing year they had. He noted the high variability in yield throughout each field, which was very clear to see on his combine’s yield monitor. His Bazooka crop did particularly well. In general, quality was good, with specific weights ranging from 66-72KPH. Straw yields however were poor, averaging around five and a half 4x4 round bales/ac.
Colm’s Ritchie bale collector can hold 16 round bales at a time and is equipped with floatation tyres.
Colm noted that the specific weight of his grain would increase when emptied into trailers via a chaser bin. He put this down to the fact that as the crop passed through an auger twice, it had a cleaning effect, blowing the lighter material out of the sample.
He plans on planting his 2021 winter oilseed rape at the end of the week, weather permitting. He will plant DK Exstar again after its performance this year. His 2020 crop was harvested last week and yielded 2.05t/ac at 10% moisture. The crop looked good all year, Colm commented. His Clearfield variety yielded 1.8t/ac at 12% moisture content. All of his oilseed straw was chopped and he is hoping to min-till winter wheat in the rape stubble this autumn.
Specific weights are proving to be very good, at between 76 and 80KPH
He cut an amount of Costello winter wheat last Friday, but moistures were around 22%. He tried it again on Saturday, where moistures had dropped to below 20%. So far, Colm’s wheat has yielded around 3.8t/ac, but he still has around 65% of the crop to cut. Specific weights are proving to be very good, at between 76 and 80KPH.
His spring barley and oats will be ready for harvest next week and look promising. His spring beans are beginning to senesce and he remains optimistic about the crop’s yield potential.
Curracloe,
Co Wexford
The broken weather in Curracloe may have stopped the cereal harvest, but harvesting of potatoes is still ongoing. They operate a just-in-time system, often harvesting, grading and sending potatoes to buyers on the same day. Dry soils, an early season and being well equipped for the job make this system possible.
Padraig explains that they’ll likely be finished harvesting potatoes within three weeks. They are currently lifting salad and early rooster crops. All of the crops are now ready for harvest, having been flailed and treated with Spotlight Plus a number of weeks ago.
Padraig was able to harvest around 200ac of spring barley last week.
Padraig is happy with the results of this treatment and has achieved a good haulm kill. However, he did note that there were higher levels of greening in crops and crow damage as a result of flailing. He also questioned how successful flailing would be in the current conditions.
Potato skin finish is excellent this year, due to the use of irrigation earlier in the season.
Winter oats
He harvested his winter oats on the August bank holiday weekend. The crop yielded around 2.5t/ac at 19% moisture and the grain was drawn directly to a local merchant. The crops were sown on light ground, so they opted to chop the straw to help increase organic matter levels. The ground will be disced over the coming week.
They also started harvesting their early spring barley crops last week. This crop was originally destined for the roasting market.
His onion crops are now ready for harvest
However, after a high amount of regrowth, they decided to send the crop for feed instead. The crop yielded around 2.4t/ac at 20% moisture. The remainder of Padraig’s spring barley crops are looking good however, and he remains optimistic about meeting the specifications for malting barley.
His onion crops are now ready for harvest. The crop will be windrowed and left for one day to dry before being harvested. Good weather will be required for this operation. Padraig’s carrot crops are looking good and will welcome the rain. This week, they received an application of Amistar (0.5l/ha), Rudis (0.4l/ha) and Karate (0.1ml/ha), as well as the insecticide Karate for carrot fly.
Limavady,
Co Derry
Jonathan has been able to make good progress with his harvest after a decent spell of weather. However, conditions changed this week as the rain arrived, bringing harvest work to an abrupt stop.
He finished his winter barley last Saturday, saving the best field for last. The crop wasn’t treated prior to harvest and took some time to mature, but yielded over 3t/ac. This straw is proving a challenge to bale however, and remains green.
The rest of his winter barley yielded between 2.5-2.75t/ac, with specific weights of between 62.5 to 66KPH. Moistures ranged from 16-20%. Some of his winter barley ground was particularly badly affected by the drought earlier in the season. Straw yields were also back, at around seven 8x3x2.5 bale/ac, three bales behind average. Straw demand in the area is good.
Jonathan was planting winter oilseed rape this week in good conditons.
Jonathan harvested his winter oilseed rape two weeks ago. The crop was sown on very sandy soil and the weather this year didn’t suit it. The crop yielded around 1.2t/ac at 12% moisture content. He baled a small amount of the oilseed straw on request, but chopped the rest. He topped the rape stubble and is aiming to direct-drill winter cereals into some of these fields in the autumn.
His spring barley crops likely won’t be harvested until the end of the month and look promising
After already planting 100ac for a neighbour, Jonathan is aiming to plant his 2021 winter oilseed crops this week. He will establish this crop using a plough and one-pass drill, sowing at a rate of 2.5kg/ha.
His winter wheat crops are looking very well and he is optimistic about the crops yield potential. The crop remains quite green however, and Jonathan thinks it is at least 10 days from harvest.
His spring barley crops likely won’t be harvested until the end of the month and look promising. With the exception of 12ac, which had the plastic blown off earlier in the season, Jonathan’s maize crops are doing well. He is planning on spreading chicken manure on winter crop ground before cultivating and ploughing in the autumn. Chicken manure has played a vital role in building soil organic matter levels in Jonathan’s sandy soils.
Navan,
Co Meath
Broken weather patterns are making the harvest a tricky one in Meath. The forecast for this week is mixed, so Colm likely won’t be cutting. However, his remaining crops are barely fit, meaning he isn’t under significant pressure to harvest them.
When talking to Colm last, he had just started his winter barley harvest. Over the space of a week, he harvested all of the crop, around 80ac worth. The crop averaged 3.25t/ac at 18.5% moisture. He is pleasantly surprised with this, considering the difficult growing year they had. He noted the high variability in yield throughout each field, which was very clear to see on his combine’s yield monitor. His Bazooka crop did particularly well. In general, quality was good, with specific weights ranging from 66-72KPH. Straw yields however were poor, averaging around five and a half 4x4 round bales/ac.
Colm’s Ritchie bale collector can hold 16 round bales at a time and is equipped with floatation tyres.
Colm noted that the specific weight of his grain would increase when emptied into trailers via a chaser bin. He put this down to the fact that as the crop passed through an auger twice, it had a cleaning effect, blowing the lighter material out of the sample.
He plans on planting his 2021 winter oilseed rape at the end of the week, weather permitting. He will plant DK Exstar again after its performance this year. His 2020 crop was harvested last week and yielded 2.05t/ac at 10% moisture. The crop looked good all year, Colm commented. His Clearfield variety yielded 1.8t/ac at 12% moisture content. All of his oilseed straw was chopped and he is hoping to min-till winter wheat in the rape stubble this autumn.
Specific weights are proving to be very good, at between 76 and 80KPH
He cut an amount of Costello winter wheat last Friday, but moistures were around 22%. He tried it again on Saturday, where moistures had dropped to below 20%. So far, Colm’s wheat has yielded around 3.8t/ac, but he still has around 65% of the crop to cut. Specific weights are proving to be very good, at between 76 and 80KPH.
His spring barley and oats will be ready for harvest next week and look promising. His spring beans are beginning to senesce and he remains optimistic about the crop’s yield potential.
Curracloe,
Co Wexford
The broken weather in Curracloe may have stopped the cereal harvest, but harvesting of potatoes is still ongoing. They operate a just-in-time system, often harvesting, grading and sending potatoes to buyers on the same day. Dry soils, an early season and being well equipped for the job make this system possible.
Padraig explains that they’ll likely be finished harvesting potatoes within three weeks. They are currently lifting salad and early rooster crops. All of the crops are now ready for harvest, having been flailed and treated with Spotlight Plus a number of weeks ago.
Padraig was able to harvest around 200ac of spring barley last week.
Padraig is happy with the results of this treatment and has achieved a good haulm kill. However, he did note that there were higher levels of greening in crops and crow damage as a result of flailing. He also questioned how successful flailing would be in the current conditions.
Potato skin finish is excellent this year, due to the use of irrigation earlier in the season.
Winter oats
He harvested his winter oats on the August bank holiday weekend. The crop yielded around 2.5t/ac at 19% moisture and the grain was drawn directly to a local merchant. The crops were sown on light ground, so they opted to chop the straw to help increase organic matter levels. The ground will be disced over the coming week.
They also started harvesting their early spring barley crops last week. This crop was originally destined for the roasting market.
His onion crops are now ready for harvest
However, after a high amount of regrowth, they decided to send the crop for feed instead. The crop yielded around 2.4t/ac at 20% moisture. The remainder of Padraig’s spring barley crops are looking good however, and he remains optimistic about meeting the specifications for malting barley.
His onion crops are now ready for harvest. The crop will be windrowed and left for one day to dry before being harvested. Good weather will be required for this operation. Padraig’s carrot crops are looking good and will welcome the rain. This week, they received an application of Amistar (0.5l/ha), Rudis (0.4l/ha) and Karate (0.1ml/ha), as well as the insecticide Karate for carrot fly.
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