Curracloe,
Wexford
Padraig thinks his winter oat harvest will commence next week, as the crop is now ripening at pace. He questions if the green tillers which have appeared around drought-affected areas could cause a problem at harvest time. Green tillers are also appearing in his spring feed barley, but his malting and roasting crops remain clean.
Padraig is impressed with his spring crops, which were established by minimum tillage this season. He is now planning on min-tilling some of his winter crops this autumn.
Padraig is capable of harvesting 17t/hr of crisping potatoes in good conditions.
It is a very busy time on the farm, as the early potato harvest continues. Field conditions are perfect for harvesting the last of the early Queens and Lady Rosette crisping crops. The skin finish on Padraig’s early Queens is excellent, helped by irrigation earlier in the year. They aim to harvest the crop when the tuber size is between 40mm and 80mm and dry matter is around 22%. The crop is harvested with a trailed Grimme GT170 harvester into 1t boxes and then sold.
They use both the trailed harvester and the self-propelled Grimme Varitron 220 to lift the early crisping crops. On average, they lift 17t/hr with the two harvesters. The crop is lifted into 30t bulk trailers before being graded back in the yard. The crop is then loaded on to lorries and sent for processing.
They are applying a blight fungicide every 10 days on the remaining potato crops using their Fendt Rogator sprayer
Haulm dessication has started for his early Rooster and salad crops. This year, they are flailing haulms, following up two days after with an application of Spotlight (1l/ha) and a blight spray. One week later, they follow up with Spotlight again at 0.6l/ha. Conditions for this method of haulm desiccation are good, but Padraig questions how it would work in a wet year or on hilly ground.
They are applying a blight fungicide every 10 days on the remaining potato crops using their Fendt Rogator sprayer. The tank mix this week consisted of Zorvec Enicade at 0.15l/ha. His onion crops received their final fungicide spray of Infinito (1.6l/ha) and will be harvested in around four weeks’ time.
Limavady,
Derry
Jonathan’s winter barley harvest began last Saturday. He cut the crops that were worst affected by the drought first. These crops yielded just 1.5t/ac at 12.5% moisture content and four 8x3x2.5 square bales/ac. However, as the harvest progressed over the week, yields improved, increasing to 2.5t/ac and then 3.3t/ac at 14.5% moisture. Straw yields also increased to around 10 bales/ac.
In total, Jonathan has 150ac of winter barley to harvest, but with a broken weather forecast on the horizon, he questions if he’ll get the two days required to finish the job this week. In general, weather has been broken on his farm, with plenty of rain over the past month. Some crops have really benefited from this, however. Ground conditions remain very good, despite the weather.
The harvest started on Jonathan's farm last weekend.
The harvest got off to a smooth start, but a broken auger chain on his Claas Lexion 630 Montana header brought progress to a halt for a few hours. When talking to Jonathan this week, he was in DA Forgie, Limavady, buying a replacement chain. He was able to get going again later that day.
Once the fields are cleared, he will sow an amount of Redstart forage rape into the stubble. This will be grazed during the winter by his stock. Some of his winter barley ground will also be sown with winter oilseed rape in August. He thinks this year’s oilseed crop will be ready for harvesting next week, after receiving an application of a non-selective herbicide (1.5l/ha) last week. He also added Podstick (1l/ha) into the tank.
The crops were grown for two anaerobic digestion facilities in the region
Jonathan is happy with his winter wheat crops. They are sown on heavier ground and are just now starting to turn. He says his spring barley crops are the best he has ever grown and appear to have very good potential.
Jonathan wholecropped his hybrid rye crops last week. The crops were grown for two anaerobic digestion facilities in the region. Crops on sandier ground yielded 12.5t/ac, while crops on heavier ground yielded 16.5t/ac.
Most maize crops have responded well to the moisture and stand at shoulder height. However, around 15ac that was wind damaged earlier this year is well behind in development.
Navan,
Meath
Much of Colm’s winter barley crops were fit for harvesting this week. His harvest kicked off on Monday evening with Cassia winter barley and progress has been steady. The crop is yielding between 3.25t/ac and 3.5t/ac so far, around 0.5t/ac below average.
He is trialling the new Climate Fieldview system on his New Holland CX8090 combine this year, which gives him accurate yield mapping capabilities. He noted that on dry gravel beds in certain fields, his yield dropped to 2.5t/ac. Colm’s plan is to use this data to apply inputs such as lime at variable rates.
Harvest moistures are reasonable, at between 18% and 19%, with specific weights of 68-71KPH. The winter barley straw is green, however, and is requiring a few days to mature. Judging by the volume of straw in swards this year, Colm thinks that yields will be back by around 20-25% in his two-row varieties.
Colm's Cassia winter barley crops are yielding between 3.25t/ac and 3.5t/ac so far.
He thinks his six-row should do better, however. Most of his winter barley stubble will be sown with winter oilseed rape (WOSR) in August, using a Sumo drill. Colm doesn’t think he will stubble cultivate the fields in case they get wet, making it difficult to establish his WOSR crop. This year’s WOSR is still around two weeks from harvest, but looks promising. A number of deer continue to make tracks through the field, however, damaging the crop in the process.
The crop is tall, around 1.5m in places, and the pods are not close to the ground
His winter wheat crops are looking good, despite being thin in places. They have good-sized heads, but Colm noted that it hasn’t been great grain-filling weather. His spring oats are looking excellent and have really benefited from the wet weather. His Husky crop is just beginning to turn, while his Isabel is still green. Secondary green tillers have become a problem with his spring barley. The heads are emerged in these tillers, but have a long way to go to catch up with the main crop.
His spring beans look excellent and he is happy with the number of pods that have formed. The crop is tall, around 1.5m in places, and the pods are not close to the ground.
Curracloe,
Wexford
Padraig thinks his winter oat harvest will commence next week, as the crop is now ripening at pace. He questions if the green tillers which have appeared around drought-affected areas could cause a problem at harvest time. Green tillers are also appearing in his spring feed barley, but his malting and roasting crops remain clean.
Padraig is impressed with his spring crops, which were established by minimum tillage this season. He is now planning on min-tilling some of his winter crops this autumn.
Padraig is capable of harvesting 17t/hr of crisping potatoes in good conditions.
It is a very busy time on the farm, as the early potato harvest continues. Field conditions are perfect for harvesting the last of the early Queens and Lady Rosette crisping crops. The skin finish on Padraig’s early Queens is excellent, helped by irrigation earlier in the year. They aim to harvest the crop when the tuber size is between 40mm and 80mm and dry matter is around 22%. The crop is harvested with a trailed Grimme GT170 harvester into 1t boxes and then sold.
They use both the trailed harvester and the self-propelled Grimme Varitron 220 to lift the early crisping crops. On average, they lift 17t/hr with the two harvesters. The crop is lifted into 30t bulk trailers before being graded back in the yard. The crop is then loaded on to lorries and sent for processing.
They are applying a blight fungicide every 10 days on the remaining potato crops using their Fendt Rogator sprayer
Haulm dessication has started for his early Rooster and salad crops. This year, they are flailing haulms, following up two days after with an application of Spotlight (1l/ha) and a blight spray. One week later, they follow up with Spotlight again at 0.6l/ha. Conditions for this method of haulm desiccation are good, but Padraig questions how it would work in a wet year or on hilly ground.
They are applying a blight fungicide every 10 days on the remaining potato crops using their Fendt Rogator sprayer. The tank mix this week consisted of Zorvec Enicade at 0.15l/ha. His onion crops received their final fungicide spray of Infinito (1.6l/ha) and will be harvested in around four weeks’ time.
Limavady,
Derry
Jonathan’s winter barley harvest began last Saturday. He cut the crops that were worst affected by the drought first. These crops yielded just 1.5t/ac at 12.5% moisture content and four 8x3x2.5 square bales/ac. However, as the harvest progressed over the week, yields improved, increasing to 2.5t/ac and then 3.3t/ac at 14.5% moisture. Straw yields also increased to around 10 bales/ac.
In total, Jonathan has 150ac of winter barley to harvest, but with a broken weather forecast on the horizon, he questions if he’ll get the two days required to finish the job this week. In general, weather has been broken on his farm, with plenty of rain over the past month. Some crops have really benefited from this, however. Ground conditions remain very good, despite the weather.
The harvest started on Jonathan's farm last weekend.
The harvest got off to a smooth start, but a broken auger chain on his Claas Lexion 630 Montana header brought progress to a halt for a few hours. When talking to Jonathan this week, he was in DA Forgie, Limavady, buying a replacement chain. He was able to get going again later that day.
Once the fields are cleared, he will sow an amount of Redstart forage rape into the stubble. This will be grazed during the winter by his stock. Some of his winter barley ground will also be sown with winter oilseed rape in August. He thinks this year’s oilseed crop will be ready for harvesting next week, after receiving an application of a non-selective herbicide (1.5l/ha) last week. He also added Podstick (1l/ha) into the tank.
The crops were grown for two anaerobic digestion facilities in the region
Jonathan is happy with his winter wheat crops. They are sown on heavier ground and are just now starting to turn. He says his spring barley crops are the best he has ever grown and appear to have very good potential.
Jonathan wholecropped his hybrid rye crops last week. The crops were grown for two anaerobic digestion facilities in the region. Crops on sandier ground yielded 12.5t/ac, while crops on heavier ground yielded 16.5t/ac.
Most maize crops have responded well to the moisture and stand at shoulder height. However, around 15ac that was wind damaged earlier this year is well behind in development.
Navan,
Meath
Much of Colm’s winter barley crops were fit for harvesting this week. His harvest kicked off on Monday evening with Cassia winter barley and progress has been steady. The crop is yielding between 3.25t/ac and 3.5t/ac so far, around 0.5t/ac below average.
He is trialling the new Climate Fieldview system on his New Holland CX8090 combine this year, which gives him accurate yield mapping capabilities. He noted that on dry gravel beds in certain fields, his yield dropped to 2.5t/ac. Colm’s plan is to use this data to apply inputs such as lime at variable rates.
Harvest moistures are reasonable, at between 18% and 19%, with specific weights of 68-71KPH. The winter barley straw is green, however, and is requiring a few days to mature. Judging by the volume of straw in swards this year, Colm thinks that yields will be back by around 20-25% in his two-row varieties.
Colm's Cassia winter barley crops are yielding between 3.25t/ac and 3.5t/ac so far.
He thinks his six-row should do better, however. Most of his winter barley stubble will be sown with winter oilseed rape (WOSR) in August, using a Sumo drill. Colm doesn’t think he will stubble cultivate the fields in case they get wet, making it difficult to establish his WOSR crop. This year’s WOSR is still around two weeks from harvest, but looks promising. A number of deer continue to make tracks through the field, however, damaging the crop in the process.
The crop is tall, around 1.5m in places, and the pods are not close to the ground
His winter wheat crops are looking good, despite being thin in places. They have good-sized heads, but Colm noted that it hasn’t been great grain-filling weather. His spring oats are looking excellent and have really benefited from the wet weather. His Husky crop is just beginning to turn, while his Isabel is still green. Secondary green tillers have become a problem with his spring barley. The heads are emerged in these tillers, but have a long way to go to catch up with the main crop.
His spring beans look excellent and he is happy with the number of pods that have formed. The crop is tall, around 1.5m in places, and the pods are not close to the ground.
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