The spring barley harvest kicked into full gear over the past week with many of the late-April sown crops going under the knife.

Quality remains an issue with high screening levels common across the country. This has not come as a surprise as the shorter growing season and heat have resulted in some grains not filling out, particularly in later-sown crops.

There are reports of some good yields for the growing season that has gone by and the higher yields look to be in the south where more rain fell. Some crops have gone over 3t/ac, but many are between 2-3t/ac and possibly on the lighter side of that range.

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This is more common on feed varieties such as Hurler and Geraldine. Some crops have very low moisture contents which should be taken into account.

Protein levels have trended higher as the season goes on and in later crops with lower yields and a shorter time for nitrogen uptake and use.

Spring oats are also being harvested, while winter wheat continues to be harvested and yields have not excited as harvest moved on, while there are good crops out there hitting 4.75t/ac and even higher in some cases, many are below 4t/ac or around the 4t/ac mark.

The beans harvest is underway extremely early, two months early for many farmers.

It has started on drier land and many crops are expected to be harvested this week with crops turning rapidly in the heat.

Yield reports are not hectic ranging between 1t/ac and 2t/ac on a limited number of reports as the harvest begins.