As harvest progresses across the country, winter barley is generally performing well with good specific weights, and merchants are beginning to see the first loads of wheat and oilseed rape. 

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Lincolnshire  

Woldgrain near Gainsborough has taken in 2,000t of winter barley so far, with oilseed rape just starting to come in.

“It was at least two weeks earlier than usual,” says Dan Murphy, lab and haulage manager. “Our first intake was on 30 June, which is unheard of here.” 

Capitol is one variety standing out so far. “It’s coming in with some very big specific weights – we’ve seen some up into the 70s,” he says.

Moisture content has been variable, with most loads coming in between 13% and 14%, within a range of 12-16%. 

Yields appear to be holding up well, and one grower planned to start Planet spring barley on Tuesday (15 July), says Dan.

“That would be two to three weeks ahead of normal. The crops I’ve seen are short and gappy, which seems to be a trend across the east of England.”  

As for oilseed rape, early samples are showing average oil contents of 44-44.3%, with quality looking sound so far. 

Norfolk  

Over on the coast at Cromer, Dewing Grain has taken in about 8,000t of winter barley so far, about 7-10 days earlier than usual.

“Roughly 65-75% of the winter barley has been cut across Norfolk already,” says managing director Andrew Dewing.

“Craft has been the main variety coming in, as it’s grown for malting.” 

Other varieties are showing more malting specification failures than usual due to high nitrogen levels.

“That said, there’s still plenty of usable, good-quality winter malting barley going into store.” 

Despite early concerns about crop quality due to prolonged dry weather, the results so far have exceeded expectations.

“I thought the drought would make this a very difficult or even useless winter malting barley crop. But actually a lot is usable, unless it’s on light land, where the crop has really struggled.” 

No oilseed rape has been brought into store yet, as conditions have remained too dry for harvesting. 

Wiltshire 

Further south, harvest has made good progress, with Trinity Grain taking in the first bite of Palladium winter wheat on 14 July.

Protein was 11.23-11.31%, with specific weights at 83.1-85.2kg/hl.  

Having taken in just over 2,000t of oilseed rape so far, it has been hit or miss on yields, says store manager Sean Crombie.

“Some members have had 4.5t/ha, others less than 2.5t/ha. Those who achieved 4.5t/ha said it looked really well throughout the season.

“Fields which haven’t done so well were plagued with pigeons and cabbage stem flea beetle from sowing.” 

However, oil content has been good at 45-47%.  

Coming in at 10-12% moisture, winter feed barley yields have been between 7.4t/ha and 8.6/ha, and 70-72kg/hl specific weight.

“It has been slightly pale in colour, but yields are better than expected.” 

Having seen 1,400t of Craft, everything has made the malting spec so far. However, many crops are coming in hot, so are having to be blasted with cool air to cool it down. 

Cornwall 

Over near Liskeard, winter barley has performed well for Richard Tamblin at Treleathick Farm.

Of the 161ha of Feeris and Tardis cut, it achieved 7.6t/ha with specific weights of up to 71kg/hl at 13.5% moisture.

“I’m really pleased with the specific weight, but there should have been another 36ha. It was so poor, we ripped it up and drilled spring barley, which brought the average up,” says Richard. 

“The best yields came after a break crop like potatoes, but also the earlier drilled crop – the first week of October – did better than the later drilled stuff.” 

Having cut 6ha of the 147ha of Planet spring barley before rain stopped play, it achieved 6.6t/ha.

“The later drilled stuff is looking quite good, but I’m a bit suspect about the grain fill.” 

Graham and Extase wheat will follow in August. “It was looking really well, but we’ll see what impact this heat has had.”