Touch and go for winter barley

The winter barley harvest was “touch-and-go” for Caley Sackur in Tibthorpe, Northumberside.

Thirty two hectares of Pearl yielded an “exceptional” 9.4t/ha, and was up to 10t/ha in some areas. Despite these high yields, nitrogen levels were high at 1.73-1.9%. He believed this was due to nitrogen in the crop being released late and is worried about whether the crop will make malting quality.

Mr Sackur was reasonably happy with 42ha of Royal oilseed rape which yielded 4.4t/ha, but was 0.5t/ha down on last year. He suggested the miserable spring weather affected the yield.

He was concerned over the 12-14% moisture due to high drying costs, but hoped the yield hadn’t been affected by the rain.

• Crop/Variety: Pearl winter barley
  
• Area: 32ha
  
• Yield: 9.4-10t/ha
  
• Quality: 1.73-1.9% nitrogen

• Crop/Variety: Royal oilseed rape
  
• Area: 42ha
  
• Yield: 4.4t/ha
  
• Quality: N/A