In general, the harvest has been moving well in all areas, despite the conditions. However, broken weather has returned, which is staggering the winter oats, oilseed and wheat harvest
Ballyragget, Kilkenny
The 48mm of rain over the past month hasn’t slowed the pace of harvesting much, but it has slowed down the baling operations, explains James.
James runs a Horsch Tiger cultivator and aims to get two flushes of weeds before bruning off.
He has the bulk of his straw committed and usually hires contractor Padraig White to bale, chase and deliver 8x4x4 square bales.
“It’s been a more normal harvest this year. We haven’t really had a single uninterrupted spell of harvesting weather.”
Despite this, James has been harvesting nearly every day, even if only for a few hours.
He runs two Claas Lexion 670s of his own, but also partners with Portarlingon grower Jimmy Smith who also runs a Lexion 670.
James’s winter oat harvest commenced shortly after and was finished by 25 July
He finished his winter barley on 16 July. His Belfry preformed slightly better than his Quadra barley. He averaged 4t/ac at 18% moisture content (mc).
Specific weights ranged from 60-65KH with straw yields of around 5 8x4x4 bales/ac.
James’s winter oat harvest commenced shortly after and was finished by 25 July.
He is above his target yield of 3.5t/ac, having averaged 3.7t/ac. Specific weights were in the low 50s and average moisture came in at 19%.
He still has an amount of oat straw on the ground and is using three single-rotor rakes to turn and move the sward, assisting it to dry.
The straw will be left to mature for two to three weeks before baling it and will be sold for bedding
He finished his winter oilseed rape harvest on 29 July. The crop looked very promising all year and James is happy with how it performed, having yielded slightly above the farm average.
The crop averaged 1.87t/ac at 10.2% mc. The straw will be left to mature for two to three weeks before baling it and will be sold for bedding. In his best harvest day so far, he cut 185ac of oilseed rape.
James has the first 150ac of his winter wheat harvested. His September-sown JD Diego has so far averaged 4.7t/ac but this has been increasing as the harvest progresses.
Harvest moistures have so far ranged from 22%-25%. He feels that the average yield will move to over 5t/ac but fears that a prolonged wet spell with mild conditions could be the perfect environment for sprouting.
He has also started stubble cultivations this week with his Horsch Tiger cultivator. More on this next week.
Athy, Co Kildare
Andrew had a decent run of weather for the harvest so far, with just a few days where he was rained off.
Andrew Bergin sowing his summer cover crop mix between the showers this week.
While the weather has taken a turn this week, he has still managed to make a start at sowing his summer cover crop mix consisting of mustard, tillage radish, buckwheat, and phacelia. He expects the seed for this mix to cost around €12/ac.
Andrew finished his winter oat harvest before his winter barley this year. His oat crop is destined for seed and performed quite well. It averaged 3.6t/ac at 16% mc.
Specific weights came in at 56 KPH. He uses a contractor to bale 8x4x3 square bales. The straw was still slightly green at harvest. He chopped the headlands and is storing the rest of the oat straw.
Winter barley on the other hand wasn’t as much of a success story, Andrew explains. Average yields came in at 3.25t/ac and due to a high number of blank grains, the sample was poor.
While the average was lower than expected, he saw a big variation in yield between individual fields, anywhere from 2.5t/ac to upwards of 4t/ac.
This variation can partially be explained by soil fertility, as he noted the stronger fields seemed to do better.
You would certainly notice you were chopping green straw – diesel usage increased by around a third
As for BYDV, as reported earlier in the year, Andrew did see a high amount of yellow tips in leaves but he isn’t convinced that he saw a consistent pattern in BYDV infection and yield levels.
He opted to chop all of his winter barley straw this year as the crop was very green at the time of harvest. “You would certainly notice you were chopping green straw – diesel usage increased by around a third,” he said.
He intends to experiment with inoculants and molasses this year to see if applying them on chopped straw will aid in its decomposition.
Andrew began his spring malting barley harvest last week. He has over 20ha cut and so far, the crop is yielding well with 65KPH, 20.5% moisture content, 8.8% protein and 1.8% screenings.
His winter wheat harvest and spring pea harvest will kick off as soon as the weather settles.
Bushmills, Co Antrim
A mixed month of sunshine, showers and heat in Bushmills has been great for tuber bulking, but has significantly increased blight pressure. Ground conditions remain excellent, however, and are quickly drying out after rain.
Mark McCurdy harvesting winter barley with his Claas Lexion 405 combine.
Mark completed his winter barley harvest last week during a settled few days. The crop was burned off with glyphosate (2l/ha) two weeks ago so both grain and straw were ripe at the time of harvest.
His California winter barley averaged 4.5t/ac at 19% moisture content. “I knew it was going to be over a 4t crop as we had to combine slowly”, Mark explains.
Our typical yield on the farm for winter barley is around 3.5t/ac so I couldn’t believe it when we got the weights back
The crop was following potatoes and was sown in perfect conditions but it has also been a reasonably good growing year in Antrim.
“Our typical yield on the farm for winter barley is around 3.5t/ac so I couldn’t believe it when we got the weights back,” Mark remarks.
The grain was treated with propcorn and rolled immediately after harvesting and will be fed to his cattle during the autumn and winter.
Most of the straw was baled the next day and averaged around 11 4x4 round bales/ac. Straw demand has been normal this year in his area.
His spring barley crops have begun to turn but he estimates it’ll be a September harvest for him. Some of the crops are shaken and lodged in areas due to recent heavy rain.
The last of Mark’s old season potato crop will be sold this week and he is lifting and bagging new season crop as he requires.
He has been lifting the earlies with his new Grimme Varitron 220 self-propelled harvester
He is finished lifting Home Guards and is now lifting his Navan, Piper, Queens and Kerr’s Pink crop. Quality is excellent and yields are slightly ahead of average.
He has been lifting the earlies with his new Grimme Varitron 220 self-propelled harvester and finds its ease on ground and 2t bunker capacity very useful.
The machine won’t be fully put to the test, however, until the main crop harvest. The crop is on a firm seven-day blight control programme due to higher pressure and will be sprayed with Revus (0.6l/ha) as well as Stealth (50ml/ha) this week.
Read more
Listen: grants to encourage the use of native grains
Partial collapse of building at Boortmalt plant
In general, the harvest has been moving well in all areas, despite the conditions. However, broken weather has returned, which is staggering the winter oats, oilseed and wheat harvest
Ballyragget, Kilkenny
The 48mm of rain over the past month hasn’t slowed the pace of harvesting much, but it has slowed down the baling operations, explains James.
James runs a Horsch Tiger cultivator and aims to get two flushes of weeds before bruning off.
He has the bulk of his straw committed and usually hires contractor Padraig White to bale, chase and deliver 8x4x4 square bales.
“It’s been a more normal harvest this year. We haven’t really had a single uninterrupted spell of harvesting weather.”
Despite this, James has been harvesting nearly every day, even if only for a few hours.
He runs two Claas Lexion 670s of his own, but also partners with Portarlingon grower Jimmy Smith who also runs a Lexion 670.
James’s winter oat harvest commenced shortly after and was finished by 25 July
He finished his winter barley on 16 July. His Belfry preformed slightly better than his Quadra barley. He averaged 4t/ac at 18% moisture content (mc).
Specific weights ranged from 60-65KH with straw yields of around 5 8x4x4 bales/ac.
James’s winter oat harvest commenced shortly after and was finished by 25 July.
He is above his target yield of 3.5t/ac, having averaged 3.7t/ac. Specific weights were in the low 50s and average moisture came in at 19%.
He still has an amount of oat straw on the ground and is using three single-rotor rakes to turn and move the sward, assisting it to dry.
The straw will be left to mature for two to three weeks before baling it and will be sold for bedding
He finished his winter oilseed rape harvest on 29 July. The crop looked very promising all year and James is happy with how it performed, having yielded slightly above the farm average.
The crop averaged 1.87t/ac at 10.2% mc. The straw will be left to mature for two to three weeks before baling it and will be sold for bedding. In his best harvest day so far, he cut 185ac of oilseed rape.
James has the first 150ac of his winter wheat harvested. His September-sown JD Diego has so far averaged 4.7t/ac but this has been increasing as the harvest progresses.
Harvest moistures have so far ranged from 22%-25%. He feels that the average yield will move to over 5t/ac but fears that a prolonged wet spell with mild conditions could be the perfect environment for sprouting.
He has also started stubble cultivations this week with his Horsch Tiger cultivator. More on this next week.
Athy, Co Kildare
Andrew had a decent run of weather for the harvest so far, with just a few days where he was rained off.
Andrew Bergin sowing his summer cover crop mix between the showers this week.
While the weather has taken a turn this week, he has still managed to make a start at sowing his summer cover crop mix consisting of mustard, tillage radish, buckwheat, and phacelia. He expects the seed for this mix to cost around €12/ac.
Andrew finished his winter oat harvest before his winter barley this year. His oat crop is destined for seed and performed quite well. It averaged 3.6t/ac at 16% mc.
Specific weights came in at 56 KPH. He uses a contractor to bale 8x4x3 square bales. The straw was still slightly green at harvest. He chopped the headlands and is storing the rest of the oat straw.
Winter barley on the other hand wasn’t as much of a success story, Andrew explains. Average yields came in at 3.25t/ac and due to a high number of blank grains, the sample was poor.
While the average was lower than expected, he saw a big variation in yield between individual fields, anywhere from 2.5t/ac to upwards of 4t/ac.
This variation can partially be explained by soil fertility, as he noted the stronger fields seemed to do better.
You would certainly notice you were chopping green straw – diesel usage increased by around a third
As for BYDV, as reported earlier in the year, Andrew did see a high amount of yellow tips in leaves but he isn’t convinced that he saw a consistent pattern in BYDV infection and yield levels.
He opted to chop all of his winter barley straw this year as the crop was very green at the time of harvest. “You would certainly notice you were chopping green straw – diesel usage increased by around a third,” he said.
He intends to experiment with inoculants and molasses this year to see if applying them on chopped straw will aid in its decomposition.
Andrew began his spring malting barley harvest last week. He has over 20ha cut and so far, the crop is yielding well with 65KPH, 20.5% moisture content, 8.8% protein and 1.8% screenings.
His winter wheat harvest and spring pea harvest will kick off as soon as the weather settles.
Bushmills, Co Antrim
A mixed month of sunshine, showers and heat in Bushmills has been great for tuber bulking, but has significantly increased blight pressure. Ground conditions remain excellent, however, and are quickly drying out after rain.
Mark McCurdy harvesting winter barley with his Claas Lexion 405 combine.
Mark completed his winter barley harvest last week during a settled few days. The crop was burned off with glyphosate (2l/ha) two weeks ago so both grain and straw were ripe at the time of harvest.
His California winter barley averaged 4.5t/ac at 19% moisture content. “I knew it was going to be over a 4t crop as we had to combine slowly”, Mark explains.
Our typical yield on the farm for winter barley is around 3.5t/ac so I couldn’t believe it when we got the weights back
The crop was following potatoes and was sown in perfect conditions but it has also been a reasonably good growing year in Antrim.
“Our typical yield on the farm for winter barley is around 3.5t/ac so I couldn’t believe it when we got the weights back,” Mark remarks.
The grain was treated with propcorn and rolled immediately after harvesting and will be fed to his cattle during the autumn and winter.
Most of the straw was baled the next day and averaged around 11 4x4 round bales/ac. Straw demand has been normal this year in his area.
His spring barley crops have begun to turn but he estimates it’ll be a September harvest for him. Some of the crops are shaken and lodged in areas due to recent heavy rain.
The last of Mark’s old season potato crop will be sold this week and he is lifting and bagging new season crop as he requires.
He has been lifting the earlies with his new Grimme Varitron 220 self-propelled harvester
He is finished lifting Home Guards and is now lifting his Navan, Piper, Queens and Kerr’s Pink crop. Quality is excellent and yields are slightly ahead of average.
He has been lifting the earlies with his new Grimme Varitron 220 self-propelled harvester and finds its ease on ground and 2t bunker capacity very useful.
The machine won’t be fully put to the test, however, until the main crop harvest. The crop is on a firm seven-day blight control programme due to higher pressure and will be sprayed with Revus (0.6l/ha) as well as Stealth (50ml/ha) this week.
Read more
Listen: grants to encourage the use of native grains
Partial collapse of building at Boortmalt plant
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