It’s been the earliest start to harvest that Jimmy Steel has ever made, with 18ha of winter barley already in the barn at Turin Home Farm, Forfar, Angus.

“We cut one field of Retriever at 14% moisture on Friday (11 July) and another on Saturday at 16% moisture,” he said.

“We normally don’t start harvest until 23 July so it’s easily the earliest we’ve ever got underway.”

See also: Upload your harvest photos to our Harvest Highlights gallery.

However, yields were disappointing, at around 6.9t/ha. “The bushel weight looked lighter than we would have liked – hence the reason it was ready so early.”

Heavy rain on Sunday night meant Mr Steel had not cut anything since then, but he anticipated combining another 14ha field by the end of the week, if the weather stayed dry.

“The crops are all looking alright, although some of the spring barley – including my own – is starting to go flat,” he said.

Everything was at least a week ahead of normal, but there was a long way to go yet.

“Mother Nature can still throw a lot at us. The barley was ready, so I thought I may as well cut it – and we’ve had a lot of rain since then, so I’m glad it’s in the shed.”