Chris Padfield finished combining wheat today (6 September) at The Hawthorns, Staunton, Gloucestershire, and is moving into winter linseed.

“We’ve gone three times up the headland, so it’s too early to tell what it’s going to yield, but I’d guess we’ll be lucky to do 2t/ha.”

Wheat had been mixed, he said. “Gallant yielded 7.9t/ha over a weighbridge, with a bushel weight of 70-73kg/hl.

“We thought that was rubbish until we cut the Diego, which came off at 63-64kg/hl and will struggle to do 7.4t/ha. It probably won’t even do that.”

Setting the combine scales up for the lower bushel weight crops was critical, added Mr Padfield. “If they’re set up for 74-76kg/hl then these are 10t/ha crops. But at 64kg/hl they are 7.2t/ha.”

Protein in the Gallant was excellent, at 14%, and the Hagberg was good, too. “But I should think a lot of millers will cut off intakes at 72kg/hl, so we’ll have to take it on a load-by-load basis.”

PR46W21 oilseed rape was disappointing after last year, at 4t/ha. “But we’ve got all of next year’s rape in the ground using the Claydon direct drill, which is a relief.”

Crop: Winter wheat
Variety: Gallant
Area: 50ha
Yield: 7.9t/ha

Variety: Diego
Area: 50ha
Yield: 7.3t/ha

Crop: Oilseed rape
Variety: PR46W21
Area: 50ha
Yield: 4t/ha