Many spring cereal crops, particularly malting barley, could well be the much-needed success story of the 2024 harvest.
March sown barley is already yielding up to 3t/ac in places.
“The malting barley harvest will get underway in earnest later in the week,” Edward Delahunty confirmed to Agriland.
Delahunty is the Co. Kilkenny representative on the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) National Grain Committee.
“Even crops sown out in late April have the potential to deliver an average of 2.7t/ac and in some cases well beyond this figure,” he added.
“At a malting price to the farmer of €250/t and with straw making €30/round bale there is a margin to be made, even on rented ground. But no one will be making a fortune.”
Malting barley and maize
There is an expectation that spring barley crops will produce an average of five bales to the acre this year.
“There is a wide variation in land rental prices at the present time. Those farmers who took land at €200/ac will cover their costs and a bit more on the basis of the spring crops I am looking at right now,” Delahunty added.
“But at a rental price of €400/ac, there is absolutely no money to be made.”
Delahunty also grows forage maize and fodder beet.
“Half the maize went in under plastic this year and is looking tremendously well at the present time,” he confirmed.
“But the remainder that was sown out on bare soil is catching up fast. Both the maize and beet crops should leave a good margin this year.
“The demand for forage crops is very strong. In our own case, all the maize and beet have been forward sold. They should make a genuine margin for us this year.”
Delahunty is expecting to harvest the earliest of this year’s maize during the first week of October.
“It just depends on the heat levels the crops receive in September,” he explained,
The Kilmanagh-based tillage farmer and contractor also makes baled forage maize available to farmer-clients.
“The precision chopped maize is brought into the yard by trailer in the normal fashion. The fresh forage is then loaded into a hopper, which feeds a static round baler courtesy of a conveyor belt.
“The baling system is manufactured in the Netherlands,” he said.
Maize bales can weigh up to 1.2t. The forage within them has an average dry matter of 40%.
Static maize baling systems can process up to 65t/hr. They are currently used in 40 different countries around the world.