Harvest to kick off in coming days

The winter barley in Tipperary is still a little bit away from being ripe as there are no early maturing varieties on Pa’s farm, with Pa hoping to be in the crop by 10 July. The crop looks good and Pa is hopeful of a decent yield.

The winter oats won’t be too far behind the barley, and Pa says it could cause issues if there is broken weather and they are ready to harvest at the one time. The oats should last better in the field so the winter barley will be the priority if this occurs.

The winter wheat is filling nicely. The crop needs more sunshine now to fill its grains, but the crop has stayed green and quite clean so there should be good potential in the crop.

The early-sown spring barley looks a lot better now than it did a few weeks ago when it was heading out. A nice long grain-fill period is exactly what it needs now to maximise the potential of the crop. The later-sown crops are still showing the effects of the dry spell in May, and the rain seems to have come too late for the crop. It is a bit thin and shorter than the early-sown crops.

The spring oats are holding their green very well. They were sown quite early so they will be one of the first spring crops to be harvested. They are very clean and have a lot of green leaf to capture the sunlight.

With the winter crops nearly ready to go, Pa has the combine serviced and nearly ready as it now only needs a greasing before beginning the harvest. The baler, trailers, and sheds are just about ready to go too.

Pa has entered the maximum area into the Straw Incorporation Measure this year. This entire area is made up of oaten straw, both winter and spring.

The winter barley is coming in quickly in Wexford, and Barty says he mgiht make a start in the next few days. There are still some green grains in the tramlines which might hold him back for an extra few days, and the weather forecast will be analysed closely too.

The grains seem to have filled nicely and there is a good big head on the barley. Barty says it is quite promising but he won’t know how it does until it’s all harvested and weighed.

The spring barley is also filling nicely. There is a nice long ear on the crop and there should be good potential if the weather plays ball for grain fill. The early-sown crops are quite forward and Barty thinks he may be cutting some of them before the end of July.

While the crops look good, Barty says the price of barley is not promising and the suggestion of cuts to malting contracts just before harvest is scandalous. Farmers have already planted the crops, bought the inputs, signed contracts, and now they may not be honoured. Barty says that any trust in the system is being eroded quickly and it is extremely disappointing.

Another disappointing issue with the spring barley is the presence of some six-row winter barley plants in some of the fields which looks to have come in the seed. Barty is now looking at ways to ensure this does not affect the crop’s chances of passing for malting. He had his seed labels kept for records and encouraged all growers to do the same before bags are recycled.

The spring oats are nice and short and are filling well. Barty has entered them into the Straw Incorporation Measure alongside some barley. He has also applied to the Farming for Water EIP to grow cover crops after harvest.

Barty was in Oxfordshire in England last week and remarked that the harvest had already started over there, a lot earlier than usual.

Winter barley yields were reportedly very poor due to the drought conditions they have experienced since March, and someone told him that the straw may be more valuable than the grainfrom these crops.

The warm weather and passing showers have provided good growing conditions for the crops in Tullamore, especially as they are a bit behind many crops in the country as they were planted in April.

The spring barley now has the awns fully emerged and the heads are starting to appear, therefore it was sprayed with its T2 fungicide earlier this week before the heads were out. This consisted of Mandarin Xpro and Kingman (folpet).

Shaun says the crop looks quite good and has remained relatively clean. Where the spring barley is following peas, the crop is quite lush and a small section is starting to lodge already. Shaun says he will have to keep an eye on this and ensure that crows do not start to land in the lodged areas. He adds that it could have done with a plant growth regulator.

The combi-crop of peas, oats, and barley looks pretty good. The peas are currently flowering and there is a lot of bee activity in the crop. Shaun says the peas are loving the heat in recent weeks, and there is a lot of them in the crop.

They might be nearly doing too well, as while there are plenty of oats in the crop, Shaun explains that the barley is getting slightly smothered by the peas. It shouldn’t cause too much of a problem as there will still be plenty of bulk in the wholecrop silage, and the protein should be relatively high with the amount of peas in the mix.

The crop has remained mostly clean too, which helps to maximise the biomass yield of the crop.

The second-cut silage on Tullamore Farm is now only a couple of weeks away from being cut. Shaun says it is bulking up nicely and he is aiming for bulk this time after harvesting a high-quality first-cut.