Malting barley quality is still good and holding well

"Last week was another stop/start affair due to rain, and it was slow progress with the winter malting barley harvest," reports Stuart Shand, Gleadell Agriculture’s sales director. "However, quality is still good and holding up well. Later yields have tended to be lower than early ones, but the yield is still above average.

"The averages of samples we have seen to date show moisture 15.50% (off the field, not dried), nitrogen slightly higher at 1.4 to 2.0%, grain size good with 96.10% over a 2.5mm sieve (off the field), and colour still excellent.

"Looking at varieties, we have only seen a few samples of Tipple and Quench, and the results are not really giving us any idea of what to expect. Nitrogens for these two are currently in the range 1.4 to 2.0%, but we need to see more before we make any firm predictions on yield or quality.

"Winter barley harvest ranges from 95% complete in the South East to 20% in the Borders, while spring barley is now ready for combining in the South and East Anglia - unfortunately so is OSR and now wheat," adds Mr Shand.