A tracked combine has been a real blessing this year for Troy Stuart, who is harvesting today (22 August) near Clyst St Mary, Exeter, Devon.

“Some of the fields are very wet and ground conditions are testing,” he said. “We got rained off on one farm yesterday, so have moved to another that missed the showers.”

So far Mr Stuart had cut about 100ha of winter wheat, which was better than expected at about 8.4t/ha. “It was mostly Santiago, and had a bushel weight of 66-71kg/hl.

“We’ve started on some Diego now but it’s too early to tell how that’s done.”

Winter barley had been very variable, with one block doing 5.9t/ha with a bushel weight in the high 40s, while another did a lot better at over 7.4t/ha.

“Oilseed rape has been consistently 3.5t to 3.7t/ha, regardless of variety or field. That’s about 0.7t/ha below our normal farm average, but it was all standing and came in dry at the end of July.”

With two dry days ahead before more rain over the weekend, Mr Stuart hoped to get as much cut as possible.

“The trouble is that we can’t bale any straw. It’s quite green and needs a few sunny days to dry it up.”

Crop: Winter wheat
Variety: Santiago
Area: 100ha
Yield: 8.4t/ha