Pleasing oats at Poyntzpass
John Best was combining oats at Acton House Farm, Poyntzpass, Co. Armagh, yesterday (23 August), and is pleased with yields so far.
“The weather has been mixed, but we’ve had a few good days,” he said. “We’ve been cutting Mascani winter oats at 7.6-7.9t/ha (3.1-3.2t/acre) on good ground.
“I’ve just got into the Balado, and I don’t think they’ll do so well.”
Farmers still had a lot of spring barley to cut in the area. “It isn’t really ready yet; normally you’d expect it to be ripe by now.
“The worst factor was the dull weather in June and July – although we had a lot of sun in May, when the rapeseed was flowering, which did that a lot of good.”
Excalibur had outyielded the Flash, with the farm averaging 5t/ha (2t/acre) for the first time ever, said Mr Best.
Winter barley harvest was almost complete in the area. “It seems to have done fairly well, at 7.4-8.6t/ha (3-3.5t/acre) around here.”
But very little wheat had been cut. “I burnt mine off so it will be ready to cut next week, so that I can get the oilseed rape in after it.
“It’s looking good – there’s a bit of fusarium in it, but I’d be fairly hopeful about yield.”
Crop: Winter oats
Variety: Mascani
Yield; 7.6-7.9t/ha (3.1-3.2t/acre)
Crop: Oilseed rape
Varieties: Excalibur and Flash
Yield: 5t/ha (2t/acre)
