Richard Ward has finished combining winter barley for Edward Hicks & Sons near Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, and has now made a start on oilseed rape.

“We’ve cut 24ha of Suzuka winter barley, which yielded about 6.2t/ha at 14.5% miosture, and then cut about 2ha of oilseed rape yesterday (14 July),” he said.

The Cabernet yielded around 3.7-4.3t/ha – and Mr Ward was moving the combine into some Excalibur today, which would be ready to cut once the sun came out.

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“The Cabernet wasn’t really fit, but just wanted to try it,” he said.

“It rained a bit last night, so we need some sun to dry the Excalibur out. However, it’s just overcast at the moment, so I’m not sure if we’ll get going again today or not.”

Mr Ward shared labour and machinery with his neighbour Mr Hicks, which was working really well. “It’s made life so much easier on both farms; it’s absolutely brilliant.”

Not many fields had been cut in the area – just a small amount of winter barley, he added. “I haven’t seen any rape cut yet, apart from ours.”