Winter oilseed rape and barley results have pleased Richard Cottle who farms 250ha at Steeple Aston near Trowbridge in Wiltshire.

His 38ha of Expert OSR yielded 4.23t/ha (1.75t/acre), which he was very pleased with. The crop was drilled on Aug 30 and established evenly, remaining relatively pest and disease free, he said.

“We have been growing oilseed rape for 25 years, and while in the past we have had yields as high as 3.7t/ha, more recently we’ve struggled to get 3.2t/ha.”

Carat and Pearl winter barley also did quite well, yielding 8.6t/ha and 9.4t/ha respectively. ”These results are better than we’ve ever had for barley.”

But he is less enthusiastic about wheat progress so far. Yields of Soissons are generally similar to normal at just over 7.5t/ha (3t/acre), but the 74-76kg/hl bushel weight was disappointing. This could be partly due to the wet establishment last autumn, followed by dry early summer conditions, he suggested.

Despite this, he was pleased that the sample made milling quality, with 13.5% protein and 287 Hagberg.

Mr Cottle is also relieved that fine weather is allowing crops to come in fairly dry, although says levels have varied quite a lot. “Yesterday loads were coming in at 11.6% and it’s now 13.8%. We’ve managed to cut most under 15%, so I only hope it stays dry.”

• Crop/variety: Expert oilseed rape


• Area: 38ha


• Yield: 4.23t/ha


• Quality: Good

• Soissons winter wheat


• N/A


• 7.5t/ha


• 74-76kg/hl bushel weight, 13.5% protein