The winter barley harvest is set to get well underway over this weekend. Warm weather and dry conditions will see many combines roll and crops move over the weighbridge.

Harvesting began at the end of June this year, but the number of crops cut over the past two weeks has been relatively small and the winter barley harvest was probably 20% complete or less at the time of going to print.

In general, crops which have been cut so far have been early-ripening Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus (BYDV) tolerant varieties such as KWS Joyau, Integral and Orcade. Some hybrid barley is going under the knife and two-row crops like Tardis are also coming right.

In the coming spell of weather, most varieties are expected to ripen in. Crops in the northern part of the country and later-sown crops will be slower to come in and have been holding their green colour.

The biggest amount of work done so far has been in the south of the country. Parts of Cork, Tipperary and some of south Kilkenny and Waterford have seen nice bits cut, with bits and pieces cut in the midlands and further north.

Rain stopped progress in a number of places on Tuesday, but Wednesday was expected to see a lot of farmers making a start.

Yields and quality

Moisture levels dropped in the last few days. While the harvest started up around 20%, moisture, contents had fallen to 16-17% this week and there were crops coming in at 15% and even below this in some cases. Yields in general look good, but not record-breaking at about 3.5t/ac and above.

An average in east Cork was reported at around 3.8–3.9t/ac, while in Waterford and Tipperary yields were generally between 3.5 and 4t/ac. Moving over to Wexford and there were yields of around 3.6-3.7t/ac.

As you move further up the country, the average drops a little bit to around 3.6t/ac.

There were of course exceptions to these yields with some crops yielding over 4t/ac after break crops and some below 2t/ac, affected by take-all.