Castlemagner, Cork
The weather broke in Castlemagner last weekend. Up until that, the weather had been a blessing as Rob had experienced a number of weeks of uninterrupted dry conditions which enabled him to gather the last of his straw.
The spring bean harvest is ongoing. He began harvesting the variety Fanfare around two weeks ago.
The crop looked very promising all year but delivered a slightly disappointing yield at 2.25t/ac, below the farm average of 2.5t/ac.
Rob notes that flowers on the top portion of the plant failed to develop into pods. The stalks on his variety Lynx are still too green to harvest.
Planting early was a trade-off between higher aphid and disease pressure versus poor establishment if the ground got wet
In the knowledge that the weather was soon to break, Rob began sowing winter wheat and barley last week.
He explains that he couldn’t take the chance on some heavier fields with such a bad forecast looming for north Cork.
“It was a tough decision. Planting early was a trade-off between higher aphid and disease pressure versus poor establishment if the ground got wet,” he remarks.
“It’s trickier when you don’t have a plough to turn up dry soil in October,” Rob concluded.
His first planting was Costello winter wheat, which had a TGW of 51g and was dressed with Latitude. At around 178kg/ha, he sowed 350 seeds/m2.
The crop was sown into ground where straw was chopped. This may yet prove problematic if slugs become an issue.
He then sowed Belfry hybrid winter barley at 110kg/ha. Rob noted that, as the straw was baled and gathered on this ground, wheel marks from the tractors, trailers and indeed the combine were still visible.
He sowed both of these crops using his John Deere 750A direct drill. The ground was first subsoiled and rolled before drilling.
He explains that some of this land is not yet fully ready for direct-drilling as the structure is not yet as good as it needs to be. No-till direct drilling is an ongoing learning process, Rob states.
He finished the last of his cover crop planting at the end of August but had to broadcast mustard seed on one crop which was badly damaged by slugs in September. His eight-way cover crop mixes are variable in terms of establishment and growth.
Ronan Snow began harvesting his Lynx beans last week.
Swords, Co Dublin
It was a dry month in north Co Dublin up to recently and most of the harvest work, with the exception of spring beans, is finished.
Ronan began harvesting this crop just before the weather broke last weekend. He began in his early sown Fanfare beans but ran into trouble when the feeder chain broke on his combine.
The stalks were still quite green which may have put the chain under extra pressure.
So far, the crop is yielding around 2.5t/ac, well below expectations. Despite the crop being very tall, there doesn’t appear to be any additional pods on the plants.
Interestingly, Ronan notes that his crop of Lynx, which was sown a month later than his Fanfare, is now ripe.
His winter wheat crops averaged around 4.55t/ac with a good quality sample, despite August’s tricky weather. Seventy per cent of his spring malting barley crop was accepted, as it met brewing specifications.
The remainder of his contract went for feed as protein levels were too high for distilling. The crop averaged 3t/ac.
Ronan was very pleased with how his spring wheat performed, averaging 3.4t/ac with 80KPH at 18% moisture.
Dry matter content on his potato crops is hovering around 19%
Ronan finished planting his 2020 winter oilseed rape crop at the start of September in perfect conditions. He planted the variety PT275 at 2.4kg/ha.
The ground was first ploughed and cultivated before 250kg/ha of 9.5:5:25 was broadcast on the surface prior to drilling. Conditions were very dry so he waited until some moisture fell before applying 2.5l/ha of Katamaran Turbo.
The ground was rolled immediately after sowing and slug pressure in the area remains low.
Dry matter content on his potato crops is hovering around 19%. With the recent spell of dry weather, Ronan expected dry matter content to increase but this has not been the case.
Despite numbers being back, tuber size is perfect, as is quality.
He is now digging as required with the main crop harvest expected to commence shortly. Ronan will soon power wash and disinfect his potato store for this season’s crop.
David harvested his spring wheat with his tracked Claas Lexion 660 last week.
St Johnston, Donegal
If it wasn’t for last week’s weather, the harvest would have been a disaster for farmers in the northwest, explains David. Persistent rain throughout August had brought harvest to a halt.
To put this in context, David explains that he made just 140 bales during that month.
This weather continued for much of September, leading to over-ripe winter and spring crops that remained to be cut. However, yields were excellent, making the effort worthwhile.
David was racing to get the harvest finished before the weather broke, but still has 4ac of spring wheat left.
He explains that up until last week, ground conditions had been very wet and, despite running a combine on tracks, there was still a lot of soil structure damage.
His winter wheat was harvested in two batches
His spring barley feed crops averaged around 3.9t/ac with variable moisture. The majority of his spring malting barley was cut in August and passed, but the last of it, which was harvested last week, went for feed.
His winter wheat was harvested in two batches. The first was in late August and this averaged 4.3t/ac at 20%mc. The second batch was harvested last week and averaged 3.8t/ac at 24%mc.
There was an amount of sprouting and head loss in his Bennington in particular. Higher-moisture wheat put his dryer under pressure, leading to a breakdown.
David was able to bale his spring wheat straw behind the combine but baling everything else wasn’t so easy
He finished his winter oats last week. The grain had been ripe for over a month but the straw was still green until recently. David explains that even though the grain lost a lot of weight, the crop still yielded a respectable 2.8t/ac.
He moved on to spring wheat last week but missed, by hours, finishing that crop and the harvest before the rains came. Without final weight confirmation, his best guess is that the crop has averaged around 3.5t/ac at 19%mc.
David was able to bale his spring wheat straw behind the combine but baling everything else wasn’t so easy.
The bulk of his straw has been a struggle to bale and required a combination of scattering and raking swards to get them dry. He still has about 20 acres of straw to bale.
Read more
Quinns releases all-Irish cereal-based rations
Listen: cover crop establishment methods and costs explained
Castlemagner, Cork
The weather broke in Castlemagner last weekend. Up until that, the weather had been a blessing as Rob had experienced a number of weeks of uninterrupted dry conditions which enabled him to gather the last of his straw.
The spring bean harvest is ongoing. He began harvesting the variety Fanfare around two weeks ago.
The crop looked very promising all year but delivered a slightly disappointing yield at 2.25t/ac, below the farm average of 2.5t/ac.
Rob notes that flowers on the top portion of the plant failed to develop into pods. The stalks on his variety Lynx are still too green to harvest.
Planting early was a trade-off between higher aphid and disease pressure versus poor establishment if the ground got wet
In the knowledge that the weather was soon to break, Rob began sowing winter wheat and barley last week.
He explains that he couldn’t take the chance on some heavier fields with such a bad forecast looming for north Cork.
“It was a tough decision. Planting early was a trade-off between higher aphid and disease pressure versus poor establishment if the ground got wet,” he remarks.
“It’s trickier when you don’t have a plough to turn up dry soil in October,” Rob concluded.
His first planting was Costello winter wheat, which had a TGW of 51g and was dressed with Latitude. At around 178kg/ha, he sowed 350 seeds/m2.
The crop was sown into ground where straw was chopped. This may yet prove problematic if slugs become an issue.
He then sowed Belfry hybrid winter barley at 110kg/ha. Rob noted that, as the straw was baled and gathered on this ground, wheel marks from the tractors, trailers and indeed the combine were still visible.
He sowed both of these crops using his John Deere 750A direct drill. The ground was first subsoiled and rolled before drilling.
He explains that some of this land is not yet fully ready for direct-drilling as the structure is not yet as good as it needs to be. No-till direct drilling is an ongoing learning process, Rob states.
He finished the last of his cover crop planting at the end of August but had to broadcast mustard seed on one crop which was badly damaged by slugs in September. His eight-way cover crop mixes are variable in terms of establishment and growth.
Ronan Snow began harvesting his Lynx beans last week.
Swords, Co Dublin
It was a dry month in north Co Dublin up to recently and most of the harvest work, with the exception of spring beans, is finished.
Ronan began harvesting this crop just before the weather broke last weekend. He began in his early sown Fanfare beans but ran into trouble when the feeder chain broke on his combine.
The stalks were still quite green which may have put the chain under extra pressure.
So far, the crop is yielding around 2.5t/ac, well below expectations. Despite the crop being very tall, there doesn’t appear to be any additional pods on the plants.
Interestingly, Ronan notes that his crop of Lynx, which was sown a month later than his Fanfare, is now ripe.
His winter wheat crops averaged around 4.55t/ac with a good quality sample, despite August’s tricky weather. Seventy per cent of his spring malting barley crop was accepted, as it met brewing specifications.
The remainder of his contract went for feed as protein levels were too high for distilling. The crop averaged 3t/ac.
Ronan was very pleased with how his spring wheat performed, averaging 3.4t/ac with 80KPH at 18% moisture.
Dry matter content on his potato crops is hovering around 19%
Ronan finished planting his 2020 winter oilseed rape crop at the start of September in perfect conditions. He planted the variety PT275 at 2.4kg/ha.
The ground was first ploughed and cultivated before 250kg/ha of 9.5:5:25 was broadcast on the surface prior to drilling. Conditions were very dry so he waited until some moisture fell before applying 2.5l/ha of Katamaran Turbo.
The ground was rolled immediately after sowing and slug pressure in the area remains low.
Dry matter content on his potato crops is hovering around 19%. With the recent spell of dry weather, Ronan expected dry matter content to increase but this has not been the case.
Despite numbers being back, tuber size is perfect, as is quality.
He is now digging as required with the main crop harvest expected to commence shortly. Ronan will soon power wash and disinfect his potato store for this season’s crop.
David harvested his spring wheat with his tracked Claas Lexion 660 last week.
St Johnston, Donegal
If it wasn’t for last week’s weather, the harvest would have been a disaster for farmers in the northwest, explains David. Persistent rain throughout August had brought harvest to a halt.
To put this in context, David explains that he made just 140 bales during that month.
This weather continued for much of September, leading to over-ripe winter and spring crops that remained to be cut. However, yields were excellent, making the effort worthwhile.
David was racing to get the harvest finished before the weather broke, but still has 4ac of spring wheat left.
He explains that up until last week, ground conditions had been very wet and, despite running a combine on tracks, there was still a lot of soil structure damage.
His winter wheat was harvested in two batches
His spring barley feed crops averaged around 3.9t/ac with variable moisture. The majority of his spring malting barley was cut in August and passed, but the last of it, which was harvested last week, went for feed.
His winter wheat was harvested in two batches. The first was in late August and this averaged 4.3t/ac at 20%mc. The second batch was harvested last week and averaged 3.8t/ac at 24%mc.
There was an amount of sprouting and head loss in his Bennington in particular. Higher-moisture wheat put his dryer under pressure, leading to a breakdown.
David was able to bale his spring wheat straw behind the combine but baling everything else wasn’t so easy
He finished his winter oats last week. The grain had been ripe for over a month but the straw was still green until recently. David explains that even though the grain lost a lot of weight, the crop still yielded a respectable 2.8t/ac.
He moved on to spring wheat last week but missed, by hours, finishing that crop and the harvest before the rains came. Without final weight confirmation, his best guess is that the crop has averaged around 3.5t/ac at 19%mc.
David was able to bale his spring wheat straw behind the combine but baling everything else wasn’t so easy.
The bulk of his straw has been a struggle to bale and required a combination of scattering and raking swards to get them dry. He still has about 20 acres of straw to bale.
Read more
Quinns releases all-Irish cereal-based rations
Listen: cover crop establishment methods and costs explained
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