We’ve been out with farmers all over the UK looking at maize crops and advising on readiness for harvest – here’s what we’ve found…

You’ll be unsurprised to hear – variability – both in stage and yield. The cold wet weather that typified the drilling season led many farmers to drill late or make a last minute decision to switch from a spring cereal to maize.

As you will have read from our previous posts, there was a real fear this could be a poor year with many crops well below average growth stage and showing signs of stress by the end of June. However, fair growing conditions since has many that some crops have caught up and will yield well – albeit mainly later than usual.

However, we have seen some really big variations depending on the approach taken, part of the UK and land type.

West of England – Very little maize was planted in early May, so the bulk of the crops are only just becoming dry enough to consider harvesting. Varying yields have been seen – 30-45t/h -reflecting the difficult conditions the crops were planted into. It’s looking very likely the west and central areas will be impacted heavily by the wet weather during harvest, meaning crops will likely come off later still and higher than target DMs

East of England- Early drilled maize (end of April/early May) is ready to be harvested now, with dry matter in the 30-33% range. Later planted crops are still 2/3  weeks away, currently sitting at about 26%DM. Yields look on par with five-year average for the farms. 35-40t/ha. The eastern part of the east is less affected by the very wet weather during harvest and seems to be coming off well and above average yield.

IF YOU COULD DO WITH ADVICE ON CROP QUALITY, GROWTH STAGE, HARVEST or CLAMPING – WE CAN HELP

CONTACT US FOR A CONVERSATION