Winter barley harvest was finished in record time for Cambridgeshire farmers Charles and Anna Leadbetter, with yields of 9t/ha, despite just 22mm of rain falling since the start of March.

Harvest of the 200ha winter barley crop started on 30 June, with the 2-row feed variety Bolton coming in at 14% moisture and a specific weight of 69.6kg/hl.

“We have never started harvest in June before. We usually are a good two weeks later, but despite the earlier start, we’ve had surprisingly good yields. We honestly can’t believe it,” says Charles.

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Harvest of the 200ha of winter barley at Eastern Farms Ltd was wrapped up over the weekend. All grain was cut and in the shed, before harvest would have even commenced in a “normal” year.

“The weather has been glorious, which allowed us to crack on with combining. Although straw yields are down on what we would expect,” he adds.

Much of the farms 2,600ha of owned, rented and contract farmed land has received a mere 22mm of rain since 3 March.

The farm near Huntingdon has been in drought conditions for most of the growing season, explains Charles who was concerned the lack of rain would significantly impact yields.

“Thankfully, the good amount of sunshine hours has really filled the grain, and compensated for the lack of rain, so yield-wise we are right where we would like to be,” he says.

What’s more, the lack of rain has kept crops free of disease, prompting a £15/ha saving on fungicide spend this year.

With the winter barley harvest complete, combines are now rolling into fields of oilseed rape, with 250ha of rapeseed to cut.

“Oilseed rape crops are generally looking well. Seed size looks to be on the smaller side but there are lots of pods so hopefully this should make up for it,” notes Charles.

Overall, it’s been a promising start to harvest, after an uncertain growing season.

Watch Eastern Farms’ Facebook video of the harvest.