Late-sown Norfolk OSR shows its strength

Serious 2021 harvesting delays meant Tim Barrell couldn’t get his oilseed rape drilled until September 14 at Elm Farm, Shipdham last autumn. Despite this and being in the driest part of Norfolk this season, his 36ha of DK Expectation averaged a really satisfying 4.7t/ha at 7% moisture.

“It may be a little short of our record yield, but we are over the moon with this,” he says. “It’s around half a tonne up on last year’s crop which we drilled much earlier.

Earlier harvesting too meant it had a good month less in the ground. Yet, it delivered handsomely.

“The hybrid’s get-up-and-go, hardly any flea beetles and a very open autumn allowed it to catch-up well with earlier sown crops in the area, although it flowered noticeably later than some. This and the very dry season meant we certainly weren’t expecting anything special from it.

“With so little summer rain the seeds were on the small side,” he notes. “But for this our yields would definitely have been over the 5t/ha mark. All told, a very good result. And for the first year in living memory we finished our whole harvest before August.

So we have the time we need to get straw shifted, FYM spread and the ground set-up as well as possible for the 2023 crop.

ESTABLISHMENT ASSURANCE

All DEKALB hybrids are now covered by Bayer’s market-leading establishment assurance scheme, offering growers refunds of £100 per 1.5 million seed bag through their suppliers for any blocks of more than 6ha sown before September 20 that fail to establish by the endof October. Full details of the minimum hassle scheme are available here.