Wheat not fit in Londonderry

Wheat is not yet fit at Richard Kane’s Brosglasgow House, Myroe, Londonderry, but rain is disturbing harvesting of his winter oats.

“We have been rained off three times,” he said. The Gerald oats were coming in at over 25% moisture, and the driers had been running for the past three weeks.

The farm had recorded six inches of rain since the first week in July, and Mr Kane was not yet a third of the way through harvest.

“It’s not panic stations yet – the wheat won’t be fit until the end of this week (22 August),” he said.

His 32ha (80 acres) of Retriever winter barley had yielded well at over 7.4t/ha (3t/acre), and the Excalibur oilseed rape was pleasing at nearly 4.9t/ha (2t/acre).

He now had 134ha (330 acres) of wheat to cut, the majority of which was Istabraq, he said.

Crop: Winter barley
Variety: Retriever
Area: 32ha (80 acres)
Yield: >7.4t/ha (3t/acre)

Crop: Oilseed rape
Variety: Excalibur
Area: 32ha (80 acres)
Yield: <4.9t/ha (2t/acre)

Crop: Winter oats
Variety: Gerald
Area: 8ha (20 acres)

Crop: Winter wheat
Variety: Istabraq
Area: 134ha (330 acres)