No harvest is ever the same! It has been a difficult harvest, and many are not yet finished with it. What is clear is ‘THANK GOODNESS for Camgrain’. Thank you everyone for clearing up all our wet grain in such an efficient and well organised way. Camgrain’s service has been excellent which is a great relief and essential for working in a catchy harvest.

The contractors I use (different on each farm) have been only too pleased to combine my crops and have them lifted out of the way by Camgrain. Unlike their home where they are bunged up with wet grain and have no room until the dryer has caught up!

We have been pleased with what we’ve harvested in terms of yield and quality, but the problem bits are still to be combined on one farm. Some spring Barley heads necking over and a lot of green straw in Oats which are still standing nicely.

Around here in the Midlands with Livestock about, the straw is going to be very valuable especially last years if one has any left over. This year a lot around here has been chopped or is of poor quality. Any crops now left standing will produce a lot of dust!

When our contractor has finished combining elsewhere, we will have to make a final decision whether we plant oilseed rape or not. Like Adam in last week’s newsletter this is a difficult decision, basically do you gamble you can beat the pests and the price will rise? I think our decision will be to leave it as I hear of numerous crop failures due primarily to slugs eating the seedlings. The wet weather has meant there is an explosion of slugs, ones only got to look in the garden!

A lot of soil compaction has shown up this harvest which is surprising since last year was so dry. We will have to do more moling than usual to help excess water in the field move to the drains laid deeper in the soil. A tractor pulls a leg behind with a piece of metal rather like a rocket through the profile of the soil across the drainage system. In clay it should leave a tube like a mole would do crossing your lawn!

Camgrain allows farmers to move onto field work more quickly because one is not stuck around the dryer for days or testing grain etc. in a shed of wet grain. 

The weather forecast looks as if after a weekend of rain, we will get some more settled weather next week. Let’s hope next week allows everyone to get finished with harvesting.

I appreciate Camgrain never sleeps and will be conditioning our grain - Thank you.