Back in August, Co. Mayo cereal grower, Fintan Murray was contemplating the prospect of ensiling his crops of spring barley and spring oats, as a result of poor weather conditions.
However, the weather eventually turned in his favour and he managed to combine all of his crops under excellent harvesting conditions.
“Both the barley and the oats averaged 2½t/ac. I was well pleased with that level of performance.
“It had been a very difficult and challenging year right up to the few weeks prior to harvest, but, thankfully, the weather turned for the better just at the right time.”
Murray said that “straw yields were also very good. All the straw was baled. There is a great demand for straw at the present time. I sell it to local farmers as either round or small bales”.
The Mayo farmer uses a proportion of his own grain on his home farm, “but the bulk of it is sold to farmers in the Balla area”.
“I am currently pumping air through the grain now in store. But the plan is to start drying the crops next week.”
Cereal grower
Murray is a member of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) national grain committee.
Despite the recent uplift in cereal prices, he has confirmed that 2024 has been a very challenging year for tillage farmers.
“A combination of poor weather and low grain prices has made cereal growing a totally unprofitable enterprise,” he said.
Murray does not grow winter cereals, however, his entire cereal acreage has been planted out in cover crops since this year’s harvest.
“This year I have included a mix of plants, which includes stubble turnips and oats.
“This gives me the option of grazing the covers or ploughing them in as part of the preparation for next year’s planting season,” he said.
The cereal grower also provides an agricultural lime spreading service. He has been very bust over recent weeks in the run up to the cut-off spreading date.
“The availability of grant aid has really boosted demand for lime with many farmers opting for an application rate of 2t/ac.
“I was supplying and spreading the lime at a cost of €34/t,” he added.