Well harvest in is full swing here in the Ryedale valley of North Yorkshire, 6 continuous dry days has meant that the army of combines are all out doing what they do best. I write this from the comfort of my tractor cab looking out at the vast array of flashing lights currently littering the countryside on a mild summers evening, and like many farmers can quite easily name the driver and make of each combine lurking in the distance. This year I find myself in the newly acquired tractor on the family farm, amazed the trust has been placed in me, either that or the bigger the tractor the safer I should be! The cab is filled with a switchboard of lights, screens and buttons however with all this technology I still haven’t been able to find the button that will dispense a barista style latte, nor have I managed to tune the rugby into any of the screens.
Up to press all my clients winter barley is cut and some have made a start on their spring counterpart. Early results for spring barley are pleasing with first reports of Propino sitting between the 7.5-8.6t/ha mark on light land around the outskirts of York. More results will start to filter through in the next 10 days…weather permitting!
With most now well into winter wheats I am pleased to report that these results are shadowing other cereals and yields are impressive. Average yields at the moment I would expect to be sitting around to 10-10.5t/ha mark with some fields reporting another couple of tonnes on top of this. As every year though there are a few patches in fields where crops didn’t establish quite so well and unfortunately are dragging some of the impressive figures down. Extase is providing mixed social messages conflicting with what I have seen so I will still be cautious with recommending vast acreages. One variety that’s still giving me sleepless nights is Barrell. During the spring, fields of this variety cause me worry purely on its disease scores however it’s continuing to make me lose sleep at harvest, not because of the disastrous results but quite the opposite its managed to turn up to the party and provide the goods. The quiet chatter of ‘I think I’ll grow this again’ is what’s unnerving me as I feel in a wetter spring, we will pay the consequences…maybe let this variety go out on a high.
Oilseed rape crops are now mostly in the ground with the odd few afterthoughts going in as we speak. Early sown fields are well up and away with 4th true leaf now basking in the Yorkshire sunshine. These are soon to receive a graminicide along with any early post-emergence herbicides. Herbicide choice is vastly tailored to weed history, relatively clean fields will be left and a Belkar or Astrokerb application will go on later in the year. The main pest battle this year so far has been slugs, perhaps the re-introduction of rape onto some of my farms has refreshed their pallets. To date flea beetle pressure has been low and manageable however it’s important not to take your eye off the ball in the later sown crops as these little blighters can cause a lot of damage in a short period of time.
A hot topic on farm between the showers is the updated guidance for autumn manure applications to farm land, unfortunately these sadly only lead to more confusion and in my own interpretation of damned if you do damned if you don’t.
