Difficult weather in Yorkshire

Catherine Thompson still has crops to cut at Holme House, Holme on Spalding Moor, Yorkshire, and has found the year to be quite a struggle.

“It’s not been great from the start and it’s still a bit of a mess now,” she said.

The 40ha of Diego winter wheat was down considerably on the usual 142ha in previous years.

“We haven’t got any confirmed yields, but it’s clear that although some areas have performed well, there are many areas which have been hit hard.

“Because the winter wheat was so poor we put in spring barley and oats, which are new to us,” she added.

However, the 30ha of Firth spring oats and 30ha of Waggon spring barley looked to be very pleasing.

“It’s difficult for us to judge yields, but all of the crops look better than last year and bushel weight is also higher.”

Straw quantity and quality was good, which had been a concern for the farm throughout the year.

“We have a large pig unit, so having much less winter wheat than usual to harvest was quite a worry,” said Mrs Thompson. “Luckily we’ve had some very nice straw, as we need all we can get.”

With 16ha of Ability spring oilseed rape left to cut, Mrs Thompson was finding the weather quite a challenge.

“We’re in a bit of quandary. We need dry weather to finish off the harvest for the year, yet we need the rain for the winter crops that have been drilled,” she said.

“All we’re getting at the moment is a fine drizzle which isn’t helping anything. It’s turning out to be quite a dilemma.”

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