Well, that's a wrap!
Harvest 2025 is finally finished! It's a long old season – most farmers tucked their combines away in August having had one of the earliest harvests on record, but we had to sit it out and wait for the spring bird seed crops to ripen. The plain canary seed was cut 5 weeks early due to the very dry weather; unfortunately canary seed doesn't like dry weather, so whilst the quality was excellent (and it came in dry) we only had 60% of our normal yield.
As the days shorten, the number of available hours to combine crops reduces significantly. The heavy morning dews and the damp coming down in early evening means that there is usually only a 4–5 hour daily window to cut crops.
Our red millet was harvested on 22nd September and the white millet on 1st October. Those two crops were the stars for the year, with both the quality and the yields being excellent. It was nice to finish the year with two crops that have done really well. Good news for us and your garden birds!
And now there is a big dash to plant our winter wheat, while the weather is favourable. Agronomists like us to plant autumn crops as late in the year as possible as this helps with disease control and grass weed problems, which ultimately will help us to bring down the cost of production. However, with late planting, there is always the pressure of the weather bearing down. Will it stay fair for the next month or will it be wet and stop us getting on the land? That is always the big question and there is too much at stake to gamble on the former, so the dash is on to get the job done during this window of fine weather.
Shoo fly!
This year has been particularly bad for a pest called the 'turnip sawfly', the larvae of which feeds on newly-planted winter oil seed rape crops. Their numbers can build rapidly, and boy, do they they feed voraciously, sawing out young plants and leaving them as plant skeletons!
The turnip sawfly (left) and plant damage caused by its larvae (right).
Wheat and barley
We are very pleased with our new grain store (erected late last year) and it is helping hugely. We can now hold much more of our own grain on the farm instead of sending it to a central store, which works out extremely expensive. Grain prices are really poor at the moment, with wheat trading at around £165 per tonne. We are hoping that, by holding onto our own grain, we can wait for prices to improve before selling...but with the way things are globally (there is a global over-supply) that may be a pipe dream this year.
We have grown a lot of spring barley this year, all of which achieved excellent malting barley quality, which is great in itself. However, the malting barley market in the UK has collapsed. Much of the UK's malting barley would normally be exported to maltsters in Europe, but this year they have been undercut by the Chinese who have produced large tonnages of cheap (inferior) malted barley for European brewers. So we currently have no home for our barley.
It would be fair to say that, in all the years Richard has been farming, this is one of the toughest to date. But we have to stay positive – and stay farming – because that is what we do and what we are good at!
On a brighter note: your garden birds are still enjoying our produce!
OCTOBER SEED OF THE MONTH
Native Finch Mix
From only £7.60 (SAVE 15%)
Our Native Finch Mix includes millet, oil seed rape, wheat, naked oats, plain canary seed and black sunflower seeds – and to make it even more tasty, we have added niger seed (which goldfinches particularly love), making this the perfect autumn bird food for finches and other small, hedge-loving birds.
Buy Native Finch Mix Here
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Well, that's all from me for now. Enjoy your birds and, as always, thank you for your custom!
Kind regards,
Lesley
