16 days since I last combined, although I did try yesterday for an hour or so and cut some wheat at around 24% until the the rain became too heavy.
The land is still really too wet to plough although I have started on some of the better drained fields.
OSR drilled three weeks ago is still stuck at the cotyledon stage as it has been sitting in water for most of that time.
The wheat harvest is turning into a salvage job now and there are many farmers locally who are much worse off than myself with thousands of acres to cut in some cases. The problem now is traveling on the saturated ground and there are many stories of damage to combines as they are dragged out of wet spots. Some wheat has also started to sprout whilst still in the ear and even spring barley, primarily a variety named Oxbridge, is doing the same.
Normally we would start sowing next years crop around the 15th, but this year harvest is only 70% complete.
Drying problems have been exacerbated by BP LPG who have a new delivery system and deliveries are taking up to a week to arrive - normally I get my tank refilled every 3 days. Anyone out there considering using BP - don't.
Rain has been the major factor in the poor progress in harvest this year. We had 4 dry days in August and every day we were combining some rain fell. September has started off equally poorly and the forecast is more of the same.
Winter barley was finished on the 26th August about a fortnight late with the consequent weathering of the grain. Yields were still excellent but the difficulty was the wet ground which would not support the combine or trailers. Considerable damage to the soil has been done to certain parts of the fields.
Some wheat was combined at the end of August and again yields vary from very good to unbelievable. However the combine has not moved for a week now and the potential for the remainder of the wheat must decrease daily.
About 25 Ha of Oilseed Rape has been drilled into moderate seedbeds, using the newly purchased Sumo Trio which has made an outstanding job considering conditions were far less than ideal.
Desperation started to set in and on the 14th August and I started to combine OSR at 18% moisture. However this quickly dropped to 12% and by the end of the day was an amazing 9%. After completing the OSR we moved back to winter barley and managed to get all but 23 acres cut before the weather broke again.
Yields are surprisingly good but OSR is down on the 5year average and winter barley up.
Rain has stopped harvesting for over a week now except for one day when it didn't rain and I managed to cut a few acres in the evening at 18% moisture. The straw was still damp and eventually the thrashing drum blocked. Subsequent rain has now made the soil wet so traveling could be a problem when we restart.
Canola (OSR) is ready to cut now as well so when we do start, it will be a bit of a decision what to do first!
Well, we are all ready to go - all the machinery is serviced and polished but the weather needs to improve before we can make a start on the winter barley. Sea mists (haar) and rain showers over the last week have kept the crops too wet to harvest.
Impatience got the better of me yesterday and I spread some fertiliser on the Winter Barley. Ammonium sulphate (26 N, 34 S)applied at 130 kg/ha. I probably should have carried on to the canola but decided that could wait for another week or so.
The daily weather has been unreliable (to say the least) over the last month however new hardware and cabling is now in place and everything is back to normal.
After a very busy summer and autumn, the crops are back in the ground. Harvest was a relatively straightforward affair this year after a very wet July which spoiled yield and quality of most cereals. Ironically, September and October were unusually dry with land ploughing up hard and difficult to manage. Even mid-October sown wheat is finding it difficult to obtain enough moisture. This year there is a zero setaside requirement, as due to worldwide poor harvests, there will be much less surplus grain available. It was decided to put the whole farm down to winter crop, and all the setaside grass has been drilled with wheat.
A new cropping map can be found here.
Winter Barley is now at the flowering stage and despite the severe shortage of rain, is still looking very clean and healthy. The prospects for a decent yield must remain fairly high if some rain comes in the next week or so.
Winter wheat is just at the full flag leaf stage (GS39) and will receive it's main fungicide next week. Some varieties are suffering from drought stress and others seem totally unaffected.
Canola (OSR) has now completed flowering and looks good - however it can be one of the most deceptive crops.
Early drilled spring barleys continue to grow reasonably well, but the later crops are still struggling.
Grass, remarkably, is still growing but again, requires some rain.
There was some very welcome rain on 9th & 10th May, which will wash some of the fertiliser off the surface of the ground. Unfortunately there was only around 10 mm in total and around 5 mm was in very light showers which evaporated almost immediately.
Winter barley awns are emerging which is earlier than normal but this is due to the plant being under drought stress and racing to produce seed before it dies.
Winter Wheat is practically static having grown very little in the last 3 weeks.
Spring barleys are very variable - early drilled crops are even and growing, albeit very slowly, but later sown crops are very variable, from patchy to non existent.
Canola (OSR) is surviving well as it comes towards the end of flowering. A little moisture in the soil now will enable the plants to retain and fill all their pods - if this happens yield potential looks promising.
It isn't officially a drought yet but most crops are now starting to show some effects of lack of moisture. Applied nitrogen fertiliser has not been washed down to the plant roots and is not having the desired effect either. Winter Wheat has had it's final split of growth regulator and winter barley is just at flag leaf so has had it's first fungicide and growth regulator. Both crops are showing little sign of disease.
Canola is in full flower and appears to be enjoying the warm sunny weather as it seems to be flowering for a longer period than last year - lets hope that translates into yield.
Spring barley is very variable and desperately needs rain. Most crops are under stress and will not receive any herbicide until rain comes.
Although grass is becoming less plentiful lambs are growing well and enjoying 'the sun on their backs'.
Canola is just coming into flower with the fields taking on the faint yellow tinge. It has received all it's fertilser, fungicides and trace elements, so there should be little to do to the crop until harvest.
First wheats still have not had any Nitrogen applied, but the second wheats and winter barley have had about 50 kg pllus a little sulphur to get them started. All the wheat has had a first split of growth regulator.
Although the winter has been very mild, crop development is not far from normal. In the last few days Canola has received the last of it's nitrogen and a final fungicide. Winter barley and second wheats have had a small amount of 'N' to get them started.
The next job will be applying growth regulators on the wheats.
