Mike Cumming was enjoying a rare spell of sunny weather at Lour Farms, Ladenford, Angus, and was steaming through the spring barley harvest.

“We’re cutting 100 acres a day,” he said. “Yields are average, if not slightly below normal. If we average 6t/ha (2.45t/acre) we’ll be doing well.”

He started on the spring barley on Monday (25 August), having finished the rape on Saturday after a week of being rained off.

“It was absolutely dire between the 17th and 23rd of August – continual rainfall and wall to wall cloud.” However, the oilseed rape yielded better than average, he said.

All the optic spring barley had done well, with a nitrogen content of 1.4-1.5%.

“But I do have concerns about the Oxbridge – there is splitting and skinning, and we’re seeing pre-germination. I would prefer not to grow it again as it is too high a risk.”

Mr Cumming also had some Decanter to cut, which was about five days away from ripening, so expected to make a start on the winter wheat next week.

Crop: Spring barley
Varieties: Optic and Oxbridge
Area: 113ha (280 acres)
Yield: <6t/ha (2.45t/acre)

Crop: Oilseed rape
Varieties: Excalibur and Bravour
Area: 67ha (165 acres)
Yield: <4.5t/ha (1.8t/acre)

Crop: Spring barley
Variety: Decanter
Area: 36ha (90 acres)

Crop: Winter wheat
Varieties: Alchemy, Istabraq, Concert and Robigus
Area: 150ha (370 acres)