“The samples are reasonable – bushel weight is good, moisture is at 16-17% and yields around average,” he reports.

He has seen some Pearl, but doubts it will go for malting.

“Anything cut at this stage in this part of the world will be very high in nitrogen.

“We haven‘t had the results back yet, but the grain looked a bit steely.”

He was referring to the tell-tale greyish colour of the endosperm when the grain is cut that shows the grain has ripened too early and will probably be too high in nitrogen for a malting sample.