The curse of that saint who got 40 days rain......well it's happened again...! Fortunately not to the same extent as last year, or as bad as 2008, but rain has definitely taken the shine off some farm harvests this year.
Winter Barley harvests have been respectable, with some outstanding specific weights achieved with Pearl, one grower getting figures of 3.25t/ac with a sw of 74!!
One common thread of information coming back with the rain interupting the barley harvest has been Suzuka brackling and dropping ears before the combine could get to it.
Wheat yields on the heavier soils have been reasonable, even on areas that were affected by the prolonged dry spell, with sw's in the high 70's. A number of farmers are claiming yields over 5t/ac on some varieties, one grower I know claiming Lear outyielded everything by 1t/ac and he's not one to make such claims lightly.
However, after last weeks heavy rains, there is a lot of sprouting wheat being now cut which is taking some of the shine off proceedings.
Here are a few photo's taken today of combining at Ashwater. Lets hope the weather holds out till it's all in!!
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