Sun is shining, crops are ready and combines are rolling, harvest is officially ON.
No time for harvest twitch this year as we started on the 1st July, the earliest we like to. Noone wants to start harvest in June. First up was the winter barley, didn’t have too much of this so that was done in a day. Tick. Next up the Oilseed Rape with “the best yield we’ve had in years” spirits were high (this may turn out to be the highlight). Next moved on to spring barley and now onto the winter wheat. No more records are predicted.
With incredibly dry conditions and sky high temperatures, combining can start nice and early and much ground can be covered in a day, especially in the new bigger combine. Ideal harvest conditions, just a shame they don’t follow ideal growing conditions. The dry weather will affect yields across the country this year. Anyone remember the 30ml of rain from the April edition (and the sky)…? That has been a savior and has made a massive difference when compared to areas that missed this. Lucky us this year!
We do have to be careful with fire risk with it being so dry. Tom spends the first hour and half in the day “blowing the combine down” with essentially a giant leaf blower. This gets rid of all the chaff and ensures the combine can work correctly without overheating. Love farming, love your combine (which is just as well as it is a horrible dusty job).
So on we go, early starts and late nights for the next few weeks for farmers all around. Give them a wave when they’re trying to negotiate a combine through a village. Tune in next time for the stats!!!
Generally dry would be good.