For Jonathon Warner, winter barley harvesting usually kicks off in mid-July, but dry weather this spring meant he started cutting two weeks earlier than normal, on 29 June.

Mr Warner said his father John told him the dry conditions for cutting winter barley this early in the season reminded him of the drought back in 1976.

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“My dad has been on combines since he was 13 and he’s getting his pension this year. This is his 41st harvest and the earliest he’s ever gone,” Mr Warner told Farmers Weekly.

Up to Sunday 2 July, 6.5ha of Amistar, a six-row winter barley with barley yellow dwarf virus tolerance, had been cut at Hill House Farm, an arable and beef enterprise run by TA Warner and Son in Stoke Heath, Shropshire.

The barley was drilled in mid-September into light, sandy soils, in very dry conditions. The farmers did consider watering the crop, but decided against it. They received some rainfall over the past six weeks, but not enough to make a big difference to the yields.

Early yields suggest an average range of 5-6.2t/ha (2-2.5t/acre), which is down on the farm’s five-year average. But grain quality overall is “not too bad”, Mr Warner said.

“Some of the grain was thin and we just didn’t get the rain we needed in April/May,” he added. “On our light land, you just have to take it for what it is, you can’t do much about it.”

Bushel weights are averaging 60.2kg/hl and moisture content is around 14.5%, which is ideal for milling for the herd of 60-70 mainly Limousin cattle. Any excess – around 50-60t – is sold to a local feed company.

See Jonathon Warner’s clip of his harvest below.

Baling

“The winter barley is baling at 9.25 round bales per acre and we’ve done 148 bales so far. We keep it on the farm and use it for cattle bedding,” said Mr Warner.  

If the dry spell continues, the remaining 7.3ha of winter barley will be cut this week with a New Holland CX840 combine harvester, now in its 10th season.

The farmers believe they are the first in their region to cut winter barley and among the earliest across the UK.

Mr Warner said his spring barley, which was drilled in mid-February, is starting to turn yellow. “It’s going to be early as well,” he suggested. Last year, harvest was wrapped up by early August. Mr Warner thinks it could be an even earlier finish this year, if the dry conditions persist.

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