It has been a wet old lot in the Vale of Belvoir with over 100mm of rain in the middle two weeks of August. Harvest finished at tea time on Bank Holiday Monday on a high – typically just as the settled weather arrived. I remember a wise man telling me “don’t worry boy there’s always time for a second harvest”. No thank you, this one has been tricky enough.

Wheat yields have been respectable at about 10t/ha. Oakley was top, closely followed by Viscount and Gallant at 8t/ha. All but three loads had to be dried, adding to production costs but I’m chuffed it’s all safe and sound in the shed. The real harvest hero was our 34-year-old ERF lorry, which still managed to haul 90% of our 4000t of wheat with no major break downs.

As our oilseed rape seed is Autocast behind the combine, rape establishment also finished on Bank Holiday Monday. Slugs have appeared on the strong land, leaving a small amount of re-drilling with the subsoiler. Metaldehyde slug pellet regulations are concentrating the mind as to where to treat and where to live with some slug damage. I’m hoping this warm weather will encourage the rape to grow away from the slugs.

Cultivated rape stubbles have weathered well due to the rain and wind, with plenty of volunteers emerging, soon to receive glyphosate prior to wheat drilling, which should kick off around 10 September, majoring on Oakley and Gallant varieties.

Although August was frantic, we had time to trial a couple of bits of new kit. Firstly, we tried a Fendt 826, courtesy of B&B tractors. It was the most incredible tractor I’ve ever driven and it’s so frugal, it almost runs on fresh air. Second was a Horsch Terrano, a fantastic piece of kit that coped well on wet, heavy land.

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