No need to be to specific but what area are you .Yep I'm on 8/900foot above sea level though backend sharp arrives and cools things down here
Here on the Cotswolds I always liked to get barley in early, as unless you get a well tillered crop before Christmas , it never seemed to be able to compensate after Christmas.
The original Arable Research Centre (now TAG)at Cirencester carried out a lot of work on winter barley agronomy. I am sure a lot of it would still apply now.
Perhaps @Fromebridge would be able to tell us where some of the publications they produced on Winter Barley, can be found on the internet.