Pleasing wheat yields near Wallingford

Guy Hildred has made good inroads into his wheat harvest at Icknield Farm, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, and is delighted with yields, too.

So far he had cut 53ha of Crusoe winter wheat for seed, which had yielded over 9t/ha, with even the second wheat producing 8.5-9t/ha.

“It’s not too shabby – something of a pleasant surprise,” he said. Having drilled most of his wheat in August, he escaped the worst of the wet autumn last year, and bushel weights were good, at 76-80kg/hl.

Gallant yielded a similar 9t/ha, with Kielder topping 10t/ha. However, 9mm of rain last night (21 August) meant the combine wouldn’t be rolling today.

Oilseed rape was much more disappointing, producing a poor average yield of 3.2t/ha.

Winter barley, however, did extremely well, with Retriever on light gravel land averaging about 8t/ha. “It’s lovely bold grain, with a bushel weight of 67kg/hl,” said Mr Hildred.

“Because it’s an early variety it was through the danger stage when we had the hot, dry weather in June.”

Crop: Winter wheat
Variety: Crusoe
Area: 53ha
Yield: >9t/ha

Variety: Gallant
Area: 56ha
Yield: 9t/ha

Variety: Kielder
Area: 50ha
Yield: >10t/ha

Crop: Winter barley
Variety: Retriever
Yield: 8t/ha