Spring barley and winter wheat have broken two more records for Jim Whiteford at Shandwick Mains, Tain, Inverness.

So far he had cut 60ha (150 acres) of Optic, which had averaged 7.7t/ha (3.12t/acre).

“One 70-acre (28ha) field did a staggering 3.5t/acre (8.65t/ha). This is another record for the farm,” he said. “Quality has been excellent and the barley is heavy, at up to 71kg/hl.”

Volume winter barley had also been record-breaking, yielding 10.5t/ha (4.3t/acre) across 16ha (40 acres).
 
“Andy Macdonald, manager of the Glenmorangie distillery was very pleased at the condition and quality of the (spring) barley, and is very hopeful of a high spirit yield from it,” said Mr Whiteford.

Viscount winter wheat, which looked terrible in the spring, yielded an incredible 11t/ha (4.5t/acre) yesterday (25 August), producing the third record in as many weeks.

“Scottish Agronomy have chosen great varieties to suit our land this season.
 
“Talking of breaking things, we managed to split all the springs on our grain trailer – I put this down to the heavy barley.”

Fortunately, Mr Whiteford’s neighbour soon supplied another trailer to keep the combine rolling.

“The weather is pushing us on as there is always talk of rain in the forecast. Tuesday looks the last good day of the week.”

Crop: Spring barley
Variety: Optic
Area: 60ha (150 acres)
Yield: 7.7t/ha (3.1t/acre)

Crop: Oilseed rape
Variety: Cuillin
Area: 16ha (40 acres)
Yield: 4.5t/ha (1.8t/acre)

Variety: Castille
Area: 10ha (25 acres)
Yield: 4t/ha (1.6t/acre)

Crop: Winter barley
Variety: Volume
Area: 16ha (40 acres)
Yield: 10.5t/ha (4.3t/acre)