Field work may have come to a halt on tillage farms. However, the Christmas period gives growers an opportunity to plan for 2025.
Farmers should take the opportunity to assess all of their winter crops over the coming days, according to Teagasc tillage specialist, Shay Phelan.
“In the vast majority of cases, they will find that they are very well advanced. This is a direct consequence of the excellent planting conditions that prevailed throughout all of October and most of November.
“The weather since then has remained relatively mild, encouraging exceptional growth rates within all crops. The Christmas break should be used by tillage farmers to be ready for all eventualities in early 2025,” Phelan said.
“Where winter barley is concerned, some crops may need a first fertiliser application within a relatively small number of weeks.
“If this is the case, growers should have preparations made to ensure the product they need is in the yard, ready for use when required.
“However, the weather could turn much colder over the coming weeks. In such cases advanced barley crops that have switched from a vegetative to a reproductive growth pattern could start to turn yellow and lose tillers,” he added.
The Christmas holiday period is a time of year when growers should carry out a full health and safety check of their yards and equipment.
“Making sure that all PTO covers are in place and ensuring that fertiliser applicators and sprayers are safe to use and accurately calibrated is also important,” Phelan said.
The Teagasc representative reflects on 20-24 as a year of two haves for Irish tillage farmers.
He continued: “Growers looking forward at the beginning of May last would have been thinking that only a perfect harvest season would have turned the corner for them, and that’s exactly what they got.
“In addition, the cool summer temperatures ensured maximum grain fill within cereal crops.
“Spring beans were the only crop that proved problematic, from a harvesting perspective. Combining was only completed in some parts of the country a fortnight ago.”
Turning to potatoes, Phelan confirmed that final yields for 2024 were on a par with those achieved last year.
“This is a remarkable result, given the fact that so many ware crops were planted late in the season.
“Potato markets have also stable at the present time. The fact that waste levels within crops have been remarkably low all adds up to a good enough year for potato growers,” he explained.