Barley 2022 Update

It has been another busy springtime on the farm and lambing is now complete and only a couple of heifers still to calve.  The tractors have been busy doing all the groundwork in preparation for this year’s barley crop.  The seed was sown between 22^nd and 26^th April and we’re now seeing a green covering in all the fields that were ploughed in March as the barely starts to grow.

Back in autumn 2021, fields were selected for growing the 2022 barley crop and the area is around 140 acres.  After researching the barley varieties available it was decided that we would grow Sassy, a previous experimental variety, and Planet, a new variety for us.  Planet caught Islay’s eye for its good traits such as yield, straw strength and time to maturity.

“The weather this spring has been mixed.  It remained cooler than we would like but at the time we came to sowing the barley the ground was good and dry and we got it all sown within four days.  After it was sown the weather took a turn for the worse and we’ve had a lot of rain since, not ideal for the barley but despite this, germination has been good and the fields now have a good green covering.  We now need some sun and heat as the barley is starting to show signs of stress due to the amount of cold wind and rain,” Islay Heads, General Manager.

As an additional experiment this year, we have sown a small section in Stone Cottage Field with a third variety, Laureate, to see how it compares with Sassy and Planet.  We will continue to bring you more updates over the coming months.

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