This week, we revisit growers from Wexford, Laois and Galway. Broken weather across all areas has done little to affect ground conditions and winter crop drilling is expected to commence next week. Fodder crops are developing well, although growth has slowed down as cooler weather returns. All areas saw ground frost this week.
Ballycarney,
Co Wexford
Months of dry weather came to an end in the middle of September in Ballycarney, as showery conditions returned. However, the rain was welcomed and there is now adequate moisture levels in the soil for sowing winter crops. The moisture has also helped cover crop development.
Julian started ploughing for winter crops this week. He ploughs with a Kverneland ES85 five-furrow and an ES80 four-furrow plough. Both reversible ploughs are hydraulic variable width. He uses no.30 slatted mouldboards, as some of his ground along the River Slaney is relatively stone-free, meaning it can be hard to get conventional mouldboards clean. The no.30 boards also allow him to plough with 650 tractor tyres without tramping the furrow.
Winston Ashmore ploughing ahead of winter barley.
He started ploughing his heavier ground first. “I’d like to get the heavy ground ploughed and sowed before mid-October,” explains Julian. This is in order to get the crop established in good conditions before the ground conditions deteriorate. He generally ploughs and cultivates with his Vaderstad carrier cultivator before drilling. He may roll the ground if it’s dry enough.
Increased winter crop area
This year, Julian plans on sowing winter and spring crops in a ratio of 25:75. This is an increase from the usual 15:85. He plans on sowing Cassia winter barley and Husky winter oats. Julian has no ground suitable for first winter wheat this year due to the lack of spring beans in the rotation. He’s using Cassia seed dressed with Latitude seed dressing, as the winter barley is being sown on second rotation cereal ground after beans.
Julian is open to increasing winter crop area in the future if things continue on their current trajectory. “There’s a lot to be said about winter crops. Yes, they’re a bigger cost, but there’s a bigger window for harvesting next year and grain and straw yields are generally bigger,” he said.
Any headlands or tramlines which were trampled throughout the year were subsoiled using a three-legged Kverneland subsoiler.
“The weather has been ideal for preparing for winter barley, especially when compared with this time last year. A good start is half the battle.”
Portlaoise, Co Laois
This time of year is used to catch up with jobs such as hedge-cutting on Eugene’s farm. The weather over the past few weeks has been mixed and has taken a notable autumnal turn. However, despite this, ground conditions remain excellent.
Eugene completed his harvest around three weeks ago and finished with spring oilseed rape (SOSR). As reported last month, his SOSR produced secondary tillers and had to be desiccated with Reglone. Regrowth of this kind was a first for Eugene, but he has since heard of at least one other SOSR crop in the area which did the same.
The crop yielded a disappointing 0.64t/ac, less than half of his five-year average of 1.5t/ac. The crop came in at 10% moisture content.
It was grown on new ground this year and due to fertility building costs and scutch grass control, the cost of production was higher than normal.
The poor yields were purely a result of the lack of moisture and intense heat earlier in the season, explains Eugene.
Eugene Ryan is busy cutting hedgerows.
Eugene is busy this week cutting hedges for both himself and a number of neighbours with his McConnel PA60 hedge-cutter. He normally does around 250 hours worth of hedge-cutting annually.
Winter crop ploughing to begin
Eugene plans to start ploughing for winter barley this week and aims to start sowing next week.
He plans on sowing Carneval winter barley again this year, as he was happy with its performance last season. The ground may be rolled after sowing this year, as it will most likely be dry enough.
His forage rape and leafy turnip crops are doing well and are currently around 20cm high. The crops received 320kg/ha of 18:6:12 a number of weeks ago. However, his phacelia and vetch cover crops appear to be struggling. They were sown at the start of September, but Eugene fears there may be herbicide residues knocking the crops back. The crops won’t be fertilised, as they weren’t sown for fodder purposes.
“Growth has slowed down, but the forage rape and leafy turnips are flying, whereas the phacelia and vetch are struggling. I fear they may be a lost cause.”
Ballinasloe,
Co Galway
This week marked the first frosty morning in Ballinasloe since spring. The weather has been broken over the past few weeks and there’s now a marked coolness in the air. However, the work carries on and John is busy with silage, reseeds and preparation for winter crops.
His harvest finished around a month ago and his average yield for both spring barley and oats came in at 3.05t/ac, much better than an average of 2.25t/ac which he was expecting earlier in the year.
“It goes to show you the potential that’s in the crop if we were to get a good year,” explains John.
However, his straw yields have been disappointing. There is still a small amount of spring oats and barley to be cut in his area.
His leafy turnip and fodder rape crops were sown around a month ago and last week received 62kg N/ha.
He wouldn’t normally fertilise a fodder crop if it was following winter barley.
Crops following spring barley would normally receive some form of nitrogen. His crops have now covered over the ground, but growth has slowed down. He isn’t planning on grazing the crop until January.
John Daly has first, second and third cuts of silage to lift and wrap this week.
A busy week
Work on the contracting side of the business has been very busy this week, lifting and baling first-, second- and third-cut silage for numerous farmers.
Fodder demand remains high, with farmers scrambling to secure winter supplies. John explains that second cuts which were baled over the past two weeks have been heavy, although regrowth has been slow. He has a number of reseeding jobs left, but these should be finished by this week.
Ploughing for winter barley has commenced, but it will be next week before John can start sowing. The cropping ratio will return to normal this year at around 30% in winter crops and 70% in spring crops.
He plans on sowing Infinity and Cassia winter barley this year, but seed supply is noticeably tight. “The seed will come, but it’s not coming as early as we’d like,” explains John.
“It’s been a busy week. I’d say we’ve been as busy this week as the first of June with silage.”
Read more
Watch: world champion's top ploughing tips
Watch: competitors plough on as site shut down
This week, we revisit growers from Wexford, Laois and Galway. Broken weather across all areas has done little to affect ground conditions and winter crop drilling is expected to commence next week. Fodder crops are developing well, although growth has slowed down as cooler weather returns. All areas saw ground frost this week.
Ballycarney,
Co Wexford
Months of dry weather came to an end in the middle of September in Ballycarney, as showery conditions returned. However, the rain was welcomed and there is now adequate moisture levels in the soil for sowing winter crops. The moisture has also helped cover crop development.
Julian started ploughing for winter crops this week. He ploughs with a Kverneland ES85 five-furrow and an ES80 four-furrow plough. Both reversible ploughs are hydraulic variable width. He uses no.30 slatted mouldboards, as some of his ground along the River Slaney is relatively stone-free, meaning it can be hard to get conventional mouldboards clean. The no.30 boards also allow him to plough with 650 tractor tyres without tramping the furrow.
Winston Ashmore ploughing ahead of winter barley.
He started ploughing his heavier ground first. “I’d like to get the heavy ground ploughed and sowed before mid-October,” explains Julian. This is in order to get the crop established in good conditions before the ground conditions deteriorate. He generally ploughs and cultivates with his Vaderstad carrier cultivator before drilling. He may roll the ground if it’s dry enough.
Increased winter crop area
This year, Julian plans on sowing winter and spring crops in a ratio of 25:75. This is an increase from the usual 15:85. He plans on sowing Cassia winter barley and Husky winter oats. Julian has no ground suitable for first winter wheat this year due to the lack of spring beans in the rotation. He’s using Cassia seed dressed with Latitude seed dressing, as the winter barley is being sown on second rotation cereal ground after beans.
Julian is open to increasing winter crop area in the future if things continue on their current trajectory. “There’s a lot to be said about winter crops. Yes, they’re a bigger cost, but there’s a bigger window for harvesting next year and grain and straw yields are generally bigger,” he said.
Any headlands or tramlines which were trampled throughout the year were subsoiled using a three-legged Kverneland subsoiler.
“The weather has been ideal for preparing for winter barley, especially when compared with this time last year. A good start is half the battle.”
Portlaoise, Co Laois
This time of year is used to catch up with jobs such as hedge-cutting on Eugene’s farm. The weather over the past few weeks has been mixed and has taken a notable autumnal turn. However, despite this, ground conditions remain excellent.
Eugene completed his harvest around three weeks ago and finished with spring oilseed rape (SOSR). As reported last month, his SOSR produced secondary tillers and had to be desiccated with Reglone. Regrowth of this kind was a first for Eugene, but he has since heard of at least one other SOSR crop in the area which did the same.
The crop yielded a disappointing 0.64t/ac, less than half of his five-year average of 1.5t/ac. The crop came in at 10% moisture content.
It was grown on new ground this year and due to fertility building costs and scutch grass control, the cost of production was higher than normal.
The poor yields were purely a result of the lack of moisture and intense heat earlier in the season, explains Eugene.
Eugene Ryan is busy cutting hedgerows.
Eugene is busy this week cutting hedges for both himself and a number of neighbours with his McConnel PA60 hedge-cutter. He normally does around 250 hours worth of hedge-cutting annually.
Winter crop ploughing to begin
Eugene plans to start ploughing for winter barley this week and aims to start sowing next week.
He plans on sowing Carneval winter barley again this year, as he was happy with its performance last season. The ground may be rolled after sowing this year, as it will most likely be dry enough.
His forage rape and leafy turnip crops are doing well and are currently around 20cm high. The crops received 320kg/ha of 18:6:12 a number of weeks ago. However, his phacelia and vetch cover crops appear to be struggling. They were sown at the start of September, but Eugene fears there may be herbicide residues knocking the crops back. The crops won’t be fertilised, as they weren’t sown for fodder purposes.
“Growth has slowed down, but the forage rape and leafy turnips are flying, whereas the phacelia and vetch are struggling. I fear they may be a lost cause.”
Ballinasloe,
Co Galway
This week marked the first frosty morning in Ballinasloe since spring. The weather has been broken over the past few weeks and there’s now a marked coolness in the air. However, the work carries on and John is busy with silage, reseeds and preparation for winter crops.
His harvest finished around a month ago and his average yield for both spring barley and oats came in at 3.05t/ac, much better than an average of 2.25t/ac which he was expecting earlier in the year.
“It goes to show you the potential that’s in the crop if we were to get a good year,” explains John.
However, his straw yields have been disappointing. There is still a small amount of spring oats and barley to be cut in his area.
His leafy turnip and fodder rape crops were sown around a month ago and last week received 62kg N/ha.
He wouldn’t normally fertilise a fodder crop if it was following winter barley.
Crops following spring barley would normally receive some form of nitrogen. His crops have now covered over the ground, but growth has slowed down. He isn’t planning on grazing the crop until January.
John Daly has first, second and third cuts of silage to lift and wrap this week.
A busy week
Work on the contracting side of the business has been very busy this week, lifting and baling first-, second- and third-cut silage for numerous farmers.
Fodder demand remains high, with farmers scrambling to secure winter supplies. John explains that second cuts which were baled over the past two weeks have been heavy, although regrowth has been slow. He has a number of reseeding jobs left, but these should be finished by this week.
Ploughing for winter barley has commenced, but it will be next week before John can start sowing. The cropping ratio will return to normal this year at around 30% in winter crops and 70% in spring crops.
He plans on sowing Infinity and Cassia winter barley this year, but seed supply is noticeably tight. “The seed will come, but it’s not coming as early as we’d like,” explains John.
“It’s been a busy week. I’d say we’ve been as busy this week as the first of June with silage.”
Read more
Watch: world champion's top ploughing tips
Watch: competitors plough on as site shut down
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