Farmer Focus: Wheat yield compromised as harvest nears
© Emily Fleur With my comment last time of “sun, sun, glorious sun”, it would appear I jinxed the June rainfall total and brought it down to next to nothing. Something similar to what our friends in Norfolk would normally get.
This has led to some thin-looking spring crops, with very low-looking margin potential considering the price we paid for the nitrogen last summer.
Our linseed certainly isn’t as dense as it needs to be, other than in the “spring” areas which seem to be twice the size. It shows the potential was there, if we’d had another inch or so of rain in June.
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The wheat has frustratingly tailed back in the past week or so, losing nearly all of its green leaf area. Grain set looks to be useful, but I fear the top spikelets may not make it through to harvest.
The Theodore in the blend seems to be the one holding out the longest, which I’ve seen in some recent trials site plots elsewhere. Shame its bushel weight and yield are compromised, because it certainly looks to have some drought tolerance to it.
I was half expecting the bacteria applied tramlines to be holding out a little longer, but they seem to be turning as quick as the rest.
We found more nitrogen along with other nutrients in the tramlines when tissue testing and N-Tester testing in early June, so the yield might still be there when the combine comes through.
As I write the combine doesn’t feel that far away, as our winter barley has ripened nicely over the past few weeks and I’d have thought it would be cut by the time you read this.
I don’t imagine the crop will break any records, but it should bat around our average of 8.5t/ha with some decent levels of straw, a valuable commodity in our area.
