Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Combines start to roll in the north

Tain farmer Jim Whiteford started cutting winter barley on Thursday July 18
Tain farmer Jim Whiteford started cutting winter barley on Thursday July 18

Farmers in the north and some parts of Angus have started combining early winter barley crops.

Early indications suggest yields are holding up to expectations although some farmers have reported a thinner grain than expected.

Tain farmer Jim Whiteford, NFU Scotland’s Highland chairman, who farms at Shandwick Mains, Arabella, started cutting 40 acres of six-row Escada winter barley on Thursday.

“Yields look very good, going by the combine yield meter, at 3.9 tonnes an acre with a bushel weight of 65kg a hectolitre,” said Mr Whiteford.

He said the last time they grew winter barley, bushel weight was down at 58kg a hectolitre.

“We are three weeks away for oilseed rape so we don’t want any more thunderstorms now.  There has been very lush, soft growth for the spring barley,” he added.

Moray farmer Iain Green, who runs a 3,000-acre mixed arable and livestock enterprise at Corskie with his parents Jimmy and Nan, started cutting winter barley on July 10.

“It’s an ok yield but thinner grain than last year,” said Mr Green who has cut around 110 acres yielding to 3.4tonnes an acre with a bushel weights ranging from 60kg to 63kg a hectolitre.

He has been cutting various varieties including Retriever – a six-row hybrid – which he said had performed poorer than expected.

Spring barley is set to be cut in the next three to four weeks, said Mr Green who expressed concern over the recent and forecast thunderstorms which had already flattened some patches of spring barley.

Laurencekirk farmer Andrew Moir, who chairs NFU Scotland’s combinable crops committee, said some patches of barley and wheat in the area had been flattened by the weather.

Andrew Stephen – managing director at grain merchant W. N. Lindsay – said he had seen two samples of “big, bold barley” from Morayshire, both of which had good specific weight but yields were slightly lower at just over 3 tonnes an acre.

Highland Grain chief executive Simon Barry said he had seen a mixed bag of samples from growers in the region.

“I think people are happy with yields with crops taking 3 – 3.5 tonnes an acre, but there has been a mixed bushel weight.  We have had some as low as 57kg a hectolitre and some as high as 67kg,” said Mr Barry.

HGCA market analyst Jack Watts said:  “The price outlook is depressed with the lowest prices in four years as crop prospects look very good across the northern hemisphere, Europe and in the UK.

“So there is very little concern over grain supplies, especially feed grains which has been the supporting factor of price in previous years.”