Merseyside arable farmer Olly Harrison was quick off the mark to harvest his winter barley this week, eager to capture a £40/t premium at “old crop” prices.

The barley came off at about 17% moisture and yielded close to 3t/acre, which Mr Harrison described as “good, considering the season we’ve had”.

There were, however, a lot of wheat volunteers, which registered a far higher moisture reading.

See also: Get ready for harvest – how to carry out a safety induction

In total, Mr Harrison cut some 17ha on Tuesday (13 July), with a similar area to be cut on Thursday.

The straw has also been baled, with an eye on the firm livestock bedding market.

“We have our own biomass drier, so drying it is pretty cheap,” he said. “It made a lot of sense to get this off now and sell it straight away, knowing that prices are set to drop for new crop next week.

“I also have a new combine – a Claas Lexion – so we were keen to give it a spin, to check it all held together properly.”

A video of the harvest preparation and operation has also been posted on Mr Harrison’s Ollyblogs YouTube channel.

The combine will be put away again, with the oilseed rape not expected to be ready for at least another fortnight.

The barley cut so far was sold as feed to Openfield for Monday collection.

Old crop, where available, is presently worth around £180/t, compared with new crop ex-farm values of closer to £140/t for July.

Mr Harrison farms about 120ha of his own land near Liverpool, plus another 445ha of tenanted land, as well as contract combining.

© Olly Harrison