According to Teagasc tillage specialist, Shay Phelan, winter barley crops will require their first fertiliser application in six weeks time, or thereabouts.
Growers should “start to think through the product options they need and have them available when required”, according to Phelan.
“Barley crops look well at the present time. This is a result of the recent mild weather, so much so that mildew has been identified in some crops.
“I know that sown growers were actually thinking of going with a fungicide over Christmas. However, this is not required as disease impacted leaves at this stage in the production cycle do not contribute to final yields.
“In addition, temperatures are set to drop dramatically over the coming days. The cold weather will kill-off the mildew and a host of pests that can damage crops,” he added.
Phelan has noted the option of grazing well-established winter cereal crops with sheep at this time of the year, adding:
“It works, provided the stock do not cause soil compaction damage. Before the advent of chemical growth regulators, grazing cereal crops with livestock was a technique used to deliver this objective.”
Winter barley crops
The Teagasc representative is also encouraging tillage farmers to think through the cropping options they will run with during the spring planting season of 2025.
“Establishing an effective rotation is key within all cropping enterprises. At a fundamental level, it is an effective way of dealing with herbicide resistance within weed populations, and spring beans are very hard to overlook in this context,” he said.
There is a growing belief that the area of beans grown in Ireland this year may well contract this year, relative to 2024.
This reflects the very large area of winter cereals planted out last back end and the restricted scope for spring crops in 2025.
“Some growers also had a bad experienced with beans last year, given the very late harvest dates for many crops, but the case for beans has to be made in the round. First-off, they make a valuable contribution to all tillage rotations.
“In addition, the Protein Aid Scheme has also been confirmed for 2024, although I am not sure as to the level of funding agreed for the measure,” he said.
Finally, Teagasc will be hosting a series of spring tillage seminars later in January and into early February. Full details of the events will be available online.