Is harvest 2019 getting desperate in Scotland??

[Bossfarmer]

a lot of my crops are now going down with the heavy rain and after a drive down to central Scotland at the weekend i was shocked and felt my crops werent as bad, some fields are completely flat out and about how will farmers lift them? with Nov wheat at 144 and a high chance of rejected malting barley this year that doesnt leave much for what we do lift, have things ever looked this bleak pre harvest???

 

[Bossfarmer]

@gone up the hill @Hilly @chaffcutter @Speedstar @Chae1 @jock t @CharcoalWally @Clive @Grain Buyer @lexion man @Lexion540 @Wheatland @barleybaron

 

[Stuart J]

Eastern Aberdeenshire here.

We have possibly escaped the worst of it. Only small patches of SO down.

Still got some WB to cut though, this wet weather not making it easy.

 

[Bossfarmer]

Better day today the ground wont travel for a while though and flat crops wont dry out for a while

 

[Stuart J]

Better day today the ground wont travel for a while though and flat crops wont dry out for a while

Only a few acres of WB left - Ill be going if it looks anything like reasonable later this afternoon!

 

[Cowmangav]

Not quite 1985 yet , perhaps ( from memory it was July 7 inches , August 8 inches and September 9 inches of rain ) - but give it time.

 

[Bossfarmer]

Not quite 1985 yet , perhaps ( from memory it was July 7 inches , August 8 inches and September 9 inches of rain ) - but give it time.

How are things looking down your way?

 

[Cowmangav]

Yesterday was a bit worrying - Auchincruive measured 63 mm rain in 24 hrs. Raging rivers everywhere.

 

[l'ordinary bonville]

Top end of Yorkshire bad also. Still 3 good days of w barley harvest and a day in rape. Wheat is ready now also. All barley is flat, 20% of wheat. Too wet to do anything on the land. Anything

 

[HAM135]

100mm in the last week,Spring barley and wheat mostly still standing,managed to grab our osr on thursday,20% but thought it better in the shed which then flooded on friday!Have now got it dried though,blight starting to come into spuds now as well,cereals still at least a fortnight away yet so still hoping things might turn around.Oh to be a farmer!!

 

[Chae1]

Not panicking yet. Small area of oats went down. Got concerto ready to combine. By end of this week I'll be getting more concerned.

 

[wuddy]

Not quite 1985 yet , perhaps ( from memory it was July 7 inches , August 8 inches and September 9 inches of rain ) - but give it time.

4” with us over the weekend almost 6” for last week. Barley straw in swaths rotting and flat wheat sprouting and still got about 150ac rape to go at!

 

[Sharpy]

Left a bucket out on a job in East Kilbride on Saturday evening, 3.25 inches in it this morning........

 

[Brisel]

Some Laureate spring barley went down in early July here, Otherwise, the rest of the barley is brackling as it comes fit but that's all so far. We seem to be avoiding the worst of the weather so far compared to you guys up north.

 

[Donkey Oaty]

Is Laureate part of the problem? I think Scottish growers have gone into it too heavily given it's short track record. There is a lot of it flat around my area.

 

[Clive]

It’s not been a easy harvest so far - about 30% though the wheat now, odd bits flat but not too bad.

Not panicking just yet but we are nowhere near as wet as some seem to be

Yields seem reasonable, quality seems to be there and prices are decent enough really (maybe with the exception of oats !)

 

[Happy]

Is Laureate part of the problem? I think Scottish growers have gone into it too heavily given it's short track record. There is a lot of it flat around my area.

On my third year of 100% Laureate.
Each growing year has been very different but yielded well and all made malting first two years and looking well again this time.
Some people seem to find it a bit on the late side but never found it to be that with me.

Did put growth reg on mine this year which is a first for me in SB but not sure if crops going down this year is necessarily a variety thing rather than a growing season thing.

This year there were higher seed rates due to last years very high tgw. Best seedbeds in years resulting in every one of those seeds germinating. Fantastic growing conditions in May/June. Monsoon season of past 2-3 weeks.
Put that lot together and it’s the perfect recipe for flat crops.

 

[Chae1]

Is Laureate part of the problem? I think Scottish growers have gone into it too heavily given it's short track record. There is a lot of it flat around my area.

Ours is all standing, but it does seem to break down quickly. In 2017 we grew it for seed. It just went down into a tangled knot and was no use for seed.

 

[bobk]

Bit gone down , pita but not life threatening . need it off soon though , holiday time .

 

[spin cycle]

lotta places listed i never knew were in scotland