Spring Barley varieties of choice for 2012:
Propino- Tall variety, with very good standing ability and excellent disease profile. Quench forms part of its parentage. Superb quality feed grain
Cropton: High yielding variety, very similar to propino as Quench forms part of its parentage.
Summit: Highest yielder on UK recommended list. Our snakebite replacement, with excellent standing ability, best suited to very fertile or wet land, where lodging could be an issue.
Quench: The old reliable. Has more than stood the test of time. Joint second highest yielding on our rec. list. Excellent disease profile.
Magaly: Excellent quality feed grain & our favorite for the mill. Very good disease profile, with bumper crops of straw.

Certified Cereal Seed, The Benefits!
• Guaranteed vigor & germination of at least 85%
• Guaranteed purity of at least 98%
• Guaranteed clean & screened seed, free of wild oats
• Guaranteed even seed treatment with a hi-tech fungicide
• Access to the very best of new & highest yielding varieties under Irish conditions
• All seed grown, stored, monitored and assembled to the highest of standards.
• Peace of mind.
DON’T RISK YOUR BUSINESS & OUR AG INDUSTRY WITH DODGY SEED!!
ALWAYS USE CERTIFIED SEED!!

Sow beans ASAP, when soil conditions permit. Fury & Fuego are our varieties of choice this year. Fury is new, and is 1% better yielding & has improved resistance to downy mildew. Correct sowing is very important, because its at a very hungry time of the year for birds. Sow to a depth of 3-4 inches (7.5-10cm), via slow forward speed. Desired plant population is
25 to 30 plants per square meter. Seed is still in transit, so we cannot do a thousand grain weight, talk to us on seeding rate.
Aim to have bean sowing completed by early March.

2011 – BUMPER YEAR for BEANS!
Yields of up to 3.8 tonne per acre were recorded.
The nitrogen saving from the bean crop, plus the extra grain yield in the subsequent crop adds up to as much as 100 euro per acre. The beauty of the beans is that they are a legume, and do not require any chemical nitrogen. They have nodules on their root system which capture nitrogen from the atmosphere and convert it into a plant useable form. Beans are a superb feedstuff as they are slightly higher in energy than barley or wheat and they are a very rich source of protein, as they are 25% crude protein. They form a very important part of the Brand, and we are one of a few, who use them.
Each year the E.U consumes 22million tonne of protein feed, and it only manages to produce 6million tonne.
Beans fit perfect because we have to change our regime of cropping, look at all the fields of unwanted straw last year!! We need to produce what the market requires!
Bean sowing can begin in mid-January and sowing technique is critical to avoid bird damage. Seed must be placed deep in the seedbed, down to 4 inches if possible, this should be possible with many drills, through deep tilling and slow forward speed. A pre-emergence herbicide called Nirvana must be used before the seedling shoot is within 13mm of the soil surface.
The desired plant population is 25 to 30 plants per square meter. On account of the superb yields in 2011, there will be a big demand for seed, so get your seed ordered ASAP.

What to Sow in 2012??
The Brand has an ever increasing demand for high quality, native feed grains and beans. Inclusion of high quality, native grain was the foundation of the brand and is a feature of the brand ever since and one we are very proud of. Since the harvest, grain price has fallen nearly every week, but as I write on the last week of December they have risen by almost 10euro per tonne, but be cautious, nobody likes being a busy fool. Whatever you do in 2012, make sure it makes economic sense. Remember with rented land, it’s often hard to find two margins! It is only fair that the land owner shares some of the risk as we farm in a time of price volatility. Giving the land owner the value of one tonne of grain at harvest time or the straw, mightn’t be a bad idea. Do the sums for each field. Next month we will publish a set of crop costings, when we have a clearer picture of fert prices.
A soil sample is as important as the sums! Remember the average p.H in Ireland is 5.7, which is heading towards crop failure for barley. Lime governs the release of nutrients from the soil. It is estimated that by liming a soil with a p.H of 5.5, approx 60units per acre of nitrogen is released per year, for up to 10 years.
Break crops are essential for land, it gives the land a break from the constant same activity, it breaks disease cycles and allows the use of different chemicals, which greatly reduces the risk of weed resistance to chemicals. In many cases it reconditions the soil.
Remember, each year, it must be everyone’s aim to achieve higher yields and better quality.

The feeding value of maize is determined largely by its starch and overall dry matter content. Final starch content is largely determined at this stage, but you can influence the final dry matter content. Do so by allowing the crop time to mature. Aim to have all the starch in the grain become at least cheesy ripe before harvesting. Ripe cobs should be hard, bright yellow and with a trace of milky starch at the tip of the seed.

Generally, crop dry matters will increase by about 2% per week from now on, so in general crops can be left in the field until late Oct /early Nov. Dry matters tend to increase rapidly after the first night’s frost because the frost kills the plant and therefore has much the same effect as mowing down a meadow for hay. But you do need to harvest the crop within 10 – 14 days of that frost.

Winter barley

Sowing should be finished by Oct 15th. Any remaining fields should be sown at 11 stone per acre. Annisette is the only variety left.

Winter Oats

 Seed is very scarce, small amount of Barra and Mascani left. The optimum time to sow winter oats is October 15th, but try and have it sown before the end of October, because we learned from the last 2 years that the more advanced crops had a better root system, therefore better anchorage in the ground, and were not as susceptible to the severe frost heave that occurred. Seedrate of 9.5 stone per acre is sufficient, but later sowings will need to be uped to 10.5 stone.

Winter Wheat

Growers are forgetting about the importance of a good rotation with wheat. You need fertile ground and preferably after grass or a break crop like beans. Remember the importance of latitude from year 2 to 5 after a break crop. Take-all was quite rampant this year. You have take-all decline from year 5, but it increases in severity up to year 5.Can be sown well into November, but the optimum time to sow is October 15th, Sow at 9 stone per acre, but increase seed rates for later sown. After October use faster maturing varieties like Einstein & Cordiale.

Aphicide timing on winter cereals is critical in order to combat this virus. Serious BYDV has the potential to cause losses of up to 40%

• Cereals sown in Sept & Early Oct must be sprayed at 2 to 4 leaf stage and possibly again in early Nov, if the weather remains mild.

• Crops sown from mid Oct onwards to mid Nov, one aphicide should suffice at 2 to 4 leaf stage.

• Crops sown from mid-Nov onwards, provided temperatures are low should not require aphicide.

• Contact products like Sumi-Alpha are recommended.

Aphid multiplication is favoured from temperatures of 10 to 18 degrees, so temperatures lower than this will help cut down on numbers.

At present the weather has become damp and mild, so be very vigilant for slug activity. Draza (Methiocarb-stomach poision) is the best slug pellet, as it is most waterproof. Other brands like slugout are fine but not as persistent, but give the benefit of not killing earth worms. Apply draza at 2kg per acre, and 3kg per acre for other methaldehyde products like meterax and slugout.

Important Dates:

From December 1^st, ploughing for spring crops was permitted. From January 12^th in zone A and January 15^th in zone B, chemical fertilizer applications are permitted.

An early application of urea (weather permitting) is of great advantage in providing early grass. We all know the benefits of early grass, and Moorepark estimate a saving of 1.70euro per day for every extra day a cow spends at grass during the grazing season.