Early indications suggest there is a “wide range of yields” this year as the impact of challenging weather patterns over the last 12 months play out and the barley harvest is proving no exception.
According to Drummonds’ agronomist Brendan Reilly it is “too early” to talk about actual yield figures.
He said the key focus at this time is on getting this year’s crops harvested.
Reilly told Agriland that some barley crops are coming off the combine with high moisture content.
“The good news is that the winter barley harvest is now more or less complete in the Leinster area.
“We received the first of our deliveries of winter barley on July 1 and by last weekend 95% of our projected intake had been achieved,” he added.
But he also acknowledged that it had been a “protracted harvest because of the broken weather.”
Reilly said: “We are seeing a wide range of yields. Some crops have performed well while others have been disappointing.
“The fact is that some crops did not recover from the challenging start they received last October.
“We have our winter barely seed crops in store. They are in the process of being dried, screened and cleaned at the present time.”
According to Reilly, winter barley yields across the Drummonds’ catchment area have been in the range 3t to 3½t/ac.
“Some of these crops have been coming in at 17% to 18% moisture, depending on how fit they were. In some instances, glyphosate may well have been used to burn these crops off prior to harvest.
“But in extreme case, we have seen barley coming in to our sites at 24% moisture.
“We are about 50% through the winter oat harvest at this stage. Where oilseed rape is concerned, up to 60% of this year’s crops have been combined,” he added.
Reilly expects that the next two to three days will see the bulk of winter oilseed rape harvest completed but he is not sharing any firm forecasts on actual yield figures at this time.
“Last year was exceptional, where yields of oilseed rape are concerned. On average growers were reporting yields on around 2t/ac.
“We may well be looking at a slight fall-off in yields this year and this is every much weather related. “But growers will be content with figures coming in at 1.6t to 1.8t/ac,” he added.
He believes there is “no doubt” that the oilseed rape varieties available hold the prospect of Irish growers securing exceptional yields into the future.
The Drummonds’ agronomist also confirmed that there is a strong demand for winter oilseed rape seed and the planting of this will kick start the 2023/2024 tillage year.
Reilly said: “We held a very successful series of open days a few weeks ago.
“Rape is now a fundamental component of the rotations followed on many tillage farms.”
“So, no doubt, significant acreages of the crop will be sown once we get into that late August and September period.”