Rain holds up early Dorset winter barley harvest

Dorset grower Calvin Hooper fears that wet weather will hold up harvest with only 10ha of winter barley cut over the past four days.

He has been restricted to cutting in the afternoons of Friday (July 8), Saturday and Monday of the malting variety Venture, which is yielding about 8t/ha.

Calvin Hooper harvesting under leaden skies

“It’s been wet in the morning with overcast skies and now we are forecast rain for the next few days,” he tells Farmers Weekly.

See also: Barley grower turns to wholecropping to start harvest

The Dorset farm grows a total of 60ha of winter barley, all Venture, but Mr Hooper believes it might be next Monday before harvest begins again if the forecast rain arrives.

His family-run 180ha all-arable South Farm at Tarrant Hinton, four miles north-east of Blandford Forum, has seen grain moisture levels fall from 15% to 14.5% as cutting has progressed.

Mr Hooper says the season started off wet but a lack of sun is likely to have caused the grain specific weight to come in at a low 57kg/hl rather than the expected 63kg/hl.