New UK wheat record?
David Hoyles is celebrating a potentially record UK wheat crop at Monmouth House Farm, Lutton, Lincolnshire, at 14.3t/ha (5.79t/acre).
The 8.25ha (20.39 acre) field of Invicta was combined on 10 August; the result of good Grade One silt, ideal sowing date, early nitrogen application and a new combine, said Mr Hoyles.
“I think it was quite a lot of luck and a little bit of judgement. I top dressed it with 30kg/ha of nitrogen at the end of February, which I think helped with the drought we had – a lot of the later applications didn’t get washed in for quite a while.”
The crop was sown on 28 September at a seed rate of 125kg/ha, and was insulated from the cold winter by snow cover.
It was then treated as any other crop, with a total of 160kg/ha of nitrogen applied at T0, T1, T2, and T3.
“We’ve got a new John Deere C670i combine, which has been fantastic – we only lost 50kg/ha over the back – that’s about 0.3-0.4% of the crop, which we’re very happy with.”
Overall, 31ha (77 acres) of Invicta averaged 12.84t/ha (5.2t/acre) over a weighbridge. Viscount, grown for Weetabix, averaged 10.6t/ha (4.3t/acre), with Oakley on worse land at 10.5t/ha (3.25t/acre).
“Our first wheats averaged better than last year’s record of 11.85t/ha (4.8t/acre) – normally we get about 11.1t/ha (4.5t/acre),” said Mr Hoyles.
“The only second wheat we had – Digeo – did 8.3t/ha (3.4t/acre), which was below average.”
Mr Hoyles was cutting wheat for a neighbour today (16 August), after which he had a little bit of wheat left to finish at home, before moving into 80ha (200 acres) of mustard for Colemans.
“We’ve only had two days when it’s rained for 12 hours; most other days we’ve been grabbing crops when we can at 16.5% moisture or below.”
Crop: Winter wheat
Variety: Invicta
Area: 31ha (77 acres)
Yield: 12.84t/ha (5.2t/acre)
Variety: Viscount
Area: 28ha (70 acres)
Yield: 10.6t/ha (4.3t/acre)
Variety: Oakley
Area: 48ha (118 acres)
Yield: 10.5t/ha (3.25t/acre)
Variety: Diego
Area: 24ha (60 acres)
Yield: 8.3t/ha (3.4t/acre)
