Gareth Culligan,
Stabannon,
Co Louth
Gareth harvesting the last of his spring oilseed rape.
There is still a bit to go in harvest 2020 around Co Louth for Gareth Culligan and many others. He was harvesting winter wheat for another grower earlier this week, but he still has 320ac of his own to cut. This includes 100ac of spring barley, 120ac of spring oats and a further 100ac of spring beans.
He had some regrowth in his spring barley, but did not manage to get them sprayed off due to the broken weather. The secondary growth matured quite well however, so the grain sample looks okay. Much of this early secondary growth appears to have matured naturally in crops around the country.
Gareth has finished cutting his own winter wheat, which averaged 3.6t/ac with a spread of field yields. The major limitation was the patchiness of crops, resulting from the wet winter. This set a limit on yield potential, which encouraged Gareth to go for low inputs. He applied virtually no fungicide to most of his winter wheat, relying on phosphite nutrition to slow disease development. He also uses four-way variety mixes to help slow diseases.
He had some regrowth in his spring barley, but did not manage to get them sprayed off due to the broken weather
However, one block sown to a mix of JB Diego, Conros, Costello and Bennington got significant yellow rust on the latter variety and had to be sprayed with tebuconazole.
He has cut some spring barley, which looked like a 3t/ac crop, but it only yielded 2.6t/ac at 17% moisture due to head losses. This crop had been broken down for a few weeks and a lot of heads went under the blade. Storm damage was not an issue and all remaining crops are standing well so far.
Gareth plans to plant some winter oilseed rape, depending on weather over the coming days. He has chopped most of his straw, except for spring barley.
He planted a catch crop mix of sunflower, buckwheat, linseed, vetch and phacelia following oilseed rape and the earliest-sown crops are doing well. He intends to try a few techniques to kill this at planting time, as he needs to have options if glyphosate is removed.
Martin O’Regan,
Kinsale,
Co Cork
Ground conditons have become sticky on Martin's farm.
Last Monday, Martin finished his spring wheat harvest. The variety was Talisker, which yielded 3t/ac at 17-18% moisture and 73-74 KPH. Unfortunately, it had suffered significant damage in the recent storms, which shook off a proportion of the heads from the standing stems, leaving these stems with no heads. The whole heads on the ground now leave a longer-term problem with volunteers.
The remaining spring barley and spring oats were not ripe when the storms hit, so there seems to be relatively little damage in those crops. Martin commented that Gangway appears to have fared better than other varieties in the inclement weather.
The remaining spring barley and spring oats were not ripe when the storms hit, so there seems to be relatively little damage in those crops
He now has about 400ac left to be harvested. Martin’s winter barley finished up with an average of 4t/ac and his Planet malting barley was cut before the storms and accepted for malting at 3.3t/ac at 17% moisture. There was very little ear loss at that time.
Spring barley cut since the storms is averaging around 3t/ac, but Martin thinks there could be up to 0.75t/ac head loss in some fields. He feels that the riper the crops were when the storms hit, the greater the risk of losses.
Straw yields are back this year, even in good crops. He is baling four to four and a half 8x4x3 bales per acre, where he might normally get five or six bales. Martin is largely up to date with baling and sees no surge in demand yet. But regular customers are his priority.
Ground conditions
Ground conditions were very soft for a while, but he managed to get through all his fields with his tracked combine, despite marking some of them. Many neighbouring farmers had to leave patches in fields at the time, but these will hopefully be cut shortly.
Martin must now sow an area to catch crops to fulfil his environmental focus area obligations. He plans to sow an oat or rape plus linseed mix.
Gerry McGrath,
Tuam,
Co Galway
Gerry's forage crops are developing well.
“I finished my harvest on Monday evening and I am very relieved. I have about 15ac of spring barley straw left to bale, and I hope to have this done before this is printed.”
Those were the first words Gerry reported this week and the relief could be heard in his voice. However, most farmers around him still have an amount to cut, with almost all the spring oats left to be harvested.
Straw has become valuable, with 4x4 bales easily getting €20/bale out of the field. Gerry said that some farmers around Mayo are now paying up to €28 for 4x4s of barley straw. While the crops looked good, straw yields were disappointing.
Getting the straw baled was a big challenge and it had to be shaken out three times to get it dry enough for baling because of the constant rain
Gerry said his spring barley straw averaged seven and a half 4x4 bales per acre and his winter oats averaged between eight and nine bales per acre. Getting the straw baled was a big challenge and it had to be shaken out three times to get it dry enough for baling because of the constant rain. That was certainly a factor in the lower yields.
Grain yields were generally good, with spring barley averaging over 3t/ac and his Husky winter oats yielding 3.8t/ac, both at 18-19% moisture. The crops were not badly affected by the recent storms and there was no damage or losses visible.
Gerry planned to cultivate all his stubbles, but ground conditions are not good enough currently. However, he did sow a forage rape and stubble turnip mix, following his winter barley and winter oats. These crops have developed well, helped by good growing conditions, as seen in the picture to the left.
Forage crops
Some of this is sown for GLAS and more of it is sown as environmental focus area, as he is short of hedges, given the predominance of stone walls in the area.
These forage crops would normally be used to feed store lambs, which are part of his farming system.
Gerry is having thoughts about planting winter barley again, but his options are limited because of the three-crop rule.
Gareth Culligan,
Stabannon,
Co Louth
Gareth harvesting the last of his spring oilseed rape.
There is still a bit to go in harvest 2020 around Co Louth for Gareth Culligan and many others. He was harvesting winter wheat for another grower earlier this week, but he still has 320ac of his own to cut. This includes 100ac of spring barley, 120ac of spring oats and a further 100ac of spring beans.
He had some regrowth in his spring barley, but did not manage to get them sprayed off due to the broken weather. The secondary growth matured quite well however, so the grain sample looks okay. Much of this early secondary growth appears to have matured naturally in crops around the country.
Gareth has finished cutting his own winter wheat, which averaged 3.6t/ac with a spread of field yields. The major limitation was the patchiness of crops, resulting from the wet winter. This set a limit on yield potential, which encouraged Gareth to go for low inputs. He applied virtually no fungicide to most of his winter wheat, relying on phosphite nutrition to slow disease development. He also uses four-way variety mixes to help slow diseases.
He had some regrowth in his spring barley, but did not manage to get them sprayed off due to the broken weather
However, one block sown to a mix of JB Diego, Conros, Costello and Bennington got significant yellow rust on the latter variety and had to be sprayed with tebuconazole.
He has cut some spring barley, which looked like a 3t/ac crop, but it only yielded 2.6t/ac at 17% moisture due to head losses. This crop had been broken down for a few weeks and a lot of heads went under the blade. Storm damage was not an issue and all remaining crops are standing well so far.
Gareth plans to plant some winter oilseed rape, depending on weather over the coming days. He has chopped most of his straw, except for spring barley.
He planted a catch crop mix of sunflower, buckwheat, linseed, vetch and phacelia following oilseed rape and the earliest-sown crops are doing well. He intends to try a few techniques to kill this at planting time, as he needs to have options if glyphosate is removed.
Martin O’Regan,
Kinsale,
Co Cork
Ground conditons have become sticky on Martin's farm.
Last Monday, Martin finished his spring wheat harvest. The variety was Talisker, which yielded 3t/ac at 17-18% moisture and 73-74 KPH. Unfortunately, it had suffered significant damage in the recent storms, which shook off a proportion of the heads from the standing stems, leaving these stems with no heads. The whole heads on the ground now leave a longer-term problem with volunteers.
The remaining spring barley and spring oats were not ripe when the storms hit, so there seems to be relatively little damage in those crops. Martin commented that Gangway appears to have fared better than other varieties in the inclement weather.
The remaining spring barley and spring oats were not ripe when the storms hit, so there seems to be relatively little damage in those crops
He now has about 400ac left to be harvested. Martin’s winter barley finished up with an average of 4t/ac and his Planet malting barley was cut before the storms and accepted for malting at 3.3t/ac at 17% moisture. There was very little ear loss at that time.
Spring barley cut since the storms is averaging around 3t/ac, but Martin thinks there could be up to 0.75t/ac head loss in some fields. He feels that the riper the crops were when the storms hit, the greater the risk of losses.
Straw yields are back this year, even in good crops. He is baling four to four and a half 8x4x3 bales per acre, where he might normally get five or six bales. Martin is largely up to date with baling and sees no surge in demand yet. But regular customers are his priority.
Ground conditions
Ground conditions were very soft for a while, but he managed to get through all his fields with his tracked combine, despite marking some of them. Many neighbouring farmers had to leave patches in fields at the time, but these will hopefully be cut shortly.
Martin must now sow an area to catch crops to fulfil his environmental focus area obligations. He plans to sow an oat or rape plus linseed mix.
Gerry McGrath,
Tuam,
Co Galway
Gerry's forage crops are developing well.
“I finished my harvest on Monday evening and I am very relieved. I have about 15ac of spring barley straw left to bale, and I hope to have this done before this is printed.”
Those were the first words Gerry reported this week and the relief could be heard in his voice. However, most farmers around him still have an amount to cut, with almost all the spring oats left to be harvested.
Straw has become valuable, with 4x4 bales easily getting €20/bale out of the field. Gerry said that some farmers around Mayo are now paying up to €28 for 4x4s of barley straw. While the crops looked good, straw yields were disappointing.
Getting the straw baled was a big challenge and it had to be shaken out three times to get it dry enough for baling because of the constant rain
Gerry said his spring barley straw averaged seven and a half 4x4 bales per acre and his winter oats averaged between eight and nine bales per acre. Getting the straw baled was a big challenge and it had to be shaken out three times to get it dry enough for baling because of the constant rain. That was certainly a factor in the lower yields.
Grain yields were generally good, with spring barley averaging over 3t/ac and his Husky winter oats yielding 3.8t/ac, both at 18-19% moisture. The crops were not badly affected by the recent storms and there was no damage or losses visible.
Gerry planned to cultivate all his stubbles, but ground conditions are not good enough currently. However, he did sow a forage rape and stubble turnip mix, following his winter barley and winter oats. These crops have developed well, helped by good growing conditions, as seen in the picture to the left.
Forage crops
Some of this is sown for GLAS and more of it is sown as environmental focus area, as he is short of hedges, given the predominance of stone walls in the area.
These forage crops would normally be used to feed store lambs, which are part of his farming system.
Gerry is having thoughts about planting winter barley again, but his options are limited because of the three-crop rule.
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