Roger Moore on Manor Farm in Salisbury, Wiltshire, says things are going quite well at the moment with the nice weather.

His Istabraq wheat is averaging 10t/ha. The moisture is low at 15% and he says it is doing well as a variety. Alchemy is also looking promising.

Optic spring barley yielded slightly below average at 7.5t/ha, but he said it had a reasonably good quality with retention of 98-100% and good germination.

In comparison, Cocktail was “a disaster” with retention of only 92% when it needed 98%. He said: “We’re not the only ones in the area finding Cocktail isn’t meeting spec.”

Lioness oilseed rape yielded 3.75t/ha with a good oil content of 45%. Other varieties had 41% oil. He was disappointed with the variety as it did not perform terribly well.

He found Expert to still have green, red and yellow seeds, even when it seemed ripe. He said it was a “hiccup” in the variety. Astrid, by comparison, went well.

He added: “With everything ripe at once, there’s chaos at the grain co-op. There were 50 lorries there at 8am this morning! Everyone is trying to get the grain in whilst the weather is good.”

• Crop/Variety: Istabraq winter wheat


• Area: around 80ha


• Yield: 10t/ha


• Quality: Moisture 15%

• Crop/Variety: Optic spring barley


• Area: 200ha spring barley in total


• Yield: 7.5t/ha


• Quality: Retention 98-100%

• Crop/Variety: Cocktail spring barley


• Area: 200ha spring barley in total


• Yield: N/A


• Quality: 92% retention

• Crop/Variety: Lioness oilseed rape


• Area: 140-160ha OSR in total


• Yield: 3.75t/ha


• Quality: 45%