Winter barely could have the potential to deliver bumper yields in 2023, according to latest evidence from growers.

However these crops were most likely planted out last September and all were treated with an aphicide at the appropriate time, to check any threat of Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus.

One example of this is crop is on the farm of Reggie Lilburn and his father Beattie – half way between the villages of Moira and Dromore in Co. Down.

Milking 250 Holstein cows is the main enterprise on the farm. However, a substantial tillage operation  is a significant feature of the business.

Lilburn said: “We are on pretty good land, so growing crops fully complements the grassland area.

“The overall rule of thumb is to keep fields in grass for seven years. This is followed by two years of wheat, then winter barley, spring beans, another winter wheat and then back into grass.”

According to the Lilburns optimal use is made of the slurry and farmyard manure that is available on the farm, for application on the cropping ground.

“Ploughing is the only option for me when it comes to getting the manure fully incorporated into the soil, prior to sowing out a crop.

“So min-till, or any other cultivation option, will never be a starter,” he added.

Beans have made up a growing proportion of the Lilburns cropping enterprise for the past couple of years and the father and son team have said that they can include them in the dairy rations at a feeding rate of 3kg/head per day.

According to Reggie Lilburn beans are a direct substitute for soya and “more than that, they also contain quite high levels of starch.”

But it is a crop of Infinity winter barley that has really worked well this year for the Lilburns.

The crop was sown out on September 25 and followed a crop of winter wheat.

According to Lilburn he does not believe he has “seen a crop of barley looking so well on the farm at this time of the year”.

He said: “It was sown out into a near perfect seed bed. The weather held to allow me get on aphicide and the required herbicides on to the crop at the required times.

“The option on this farm has always been to go with two-row barley varieties. The pickle sizes are much bigger, relative to 6-row options. As a consequence, the feeding value of the final grain is always that much better.

“We put out 2,000 gallons of slurry per acre and five tonne of well rotted farmyard manure prior to ploughing. In February the crop got one bag of urea to the acre. This was followed by 1 bag of CAN three weeks later and the same again three weeks after that.”

According to Lilburn the total chemical nitrogen applied to the crop amounted to 100 units per acre and in recent weeks the crop has received a T0, T1 and flag leaf fungicide spraying programmes.

The father and son team also applied a standard plant growth regulator with the first two programmes and also applied Canopy just before ear emergence, which provided additional growth regulation control.

Manganese deficiency is an issue on parts of the Lilburn farm and as a result they apply the required micro nutrient to crops on a foliar basis.

Lilburn added: “They can be easily included with the fungicide and growth regulator tank mixes.

“All the work is done now. It’s a case of waiting to see what the harvest will bring. The arable and dairying enterprises complement each other extremely well.”