Cereal growers in Co. Louth have confirmed that some of their winter barley crops have started to lodge. This is a direct result of the heavy rains that fell in the area throughout Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.
Sean Callan – who is growing a mix of barley, oilseed rape (OSR) wheat and maize with his brother Barry at Paughanstown, Dunleer, Co. Louth said that in their case they estimate that lodging “is an issue across 10% of our winter barley area”
Sean Callan said: “We are not too worried, given that the crops are just about ready for the combine. Our aim now is to get the barley sprayed off.
“Parts of some field are still a bit green. Spraying the crops will take a full day. This should leave the barley ready for harvest within a week to 10 days thereafter.
“We lost a small area of crop due to flooding last winter. Additional areas were sprayed off to help control weeds. But, for the most part, we are very happy with the progress made by the rape crops this year.”
Winter barely
Winter wheat is the main cereal enterprise on the Callan farm, and the brothers planted 40ac of forage maize at the beginning of May. Dairying is the other enterprise on the family farm.
According to Sean Callan plants started to burn-up a little bit shortly after emergence. However, the crops are looking very well at the present time.
One issue of note, is the fact that many tillage farmers in the Co. Louth area have confirmed the growing challenge posed by herbicide resistance blackgrass and canary grass.
Spreading weed infestations from field to field on the wheels of machinery is recognised as a key issue in this regard.
Farmers with livestock are looking at the option of including grass leys within the cereal rotations they follow as one way of controlling the problem.
However, this approach is not as convenient on farms that are tillage-only.
The growing threat of blackgrass and other herbicide-resistant grass weeds, including Italian ryegrass, has also been confirmed by Teagasc.