Finishing cereal campaign. Baling days

As we mentioned in our previous post, we have closed a historic year with exceptional results, achieving yields we had never seen before. At the end of the season, the only task remaining is the baling of cereal straw (barley, wheat, triticale) and pulse vegetables (yeros and lentils).

This work is normally carried out in our village by service companies from Murcia and some from Albacete. For many years now, for example, the Rosado Brothers (Bullas - Murcia) have been welcome here for baling the remains of the harvest. This year, other companies such as El Parra from Bullas, Murcia, and Soria Brothers from Pozo Cañada, Albacete, are also performing this task. Therefore, over the next few weeks we will inspect the plots to ensure the straw has been baledand so we will be able to complete this season and start the next one, that is to say, to begin preparation, including ploughing the stubble for future sowing.

Regarding straw yields, this year has been particularly interesting due to the exceptional height of the cereal crops, resulting in a high number of bales. Typically, the amount of straw generated is about half the amount of grain produced. For example, if a field yields 3,000 kg/ha of grain, it will likely produce around 1,500 kg/ha of straw. Bales usually weigh around 350kg. The working speed of the baler varies a lot depending on the amount of straw, but it can be around 7 km/h. As you can see in the video, this year we are using a JCB Fastrac 4220 iCON tractor paired with a Fendt 1270N baler, capable of producing approximately 15,000 bales.

In conclusion, this season's impressive straw yield highlights the efficiency and productivity of our baling process, ensuring a strong start to the next agricultural cycle.

Versión en español.

Cereal harvest. Extraordinary year

Throughout the year we have been recalling the disastrous cereal harvest of 2023 in every single job we have undertaken during this campaign. Even the post we dedicated last year to the harvest was entitled "Harvesting 2023. Annus horribilis". It truly was a year of very poor yields, resulting in significant economic losses. This year, the situation has been the exact opposite, culminating in a record harvest. I don't remember a year as bad as 2023 and we don't remember a year with such high returns as we have experienced in 2024.

These days, with the cereal harvest practically finished, we are looking at the yields and we obtain a really high average for unirrigated fields: 5,800kg/ha of Medinaceli barley (all the barley we have sown is of this R2 variety). In our area, an average of 4,000kg/ha is considered very good, so this year is extraordinary  One mistake we made due to last year's poor results is that we have a lot of fallow fields and we did not sow as much cereal as we could have sown.

It is true that we have done some things differently this season, specifically in sowing (using lower seed doses), in fertilisation (different types of fertiliser thanks to the slight drop in prices) and in spring with the fungicide treatment (which is not very common in barley in our area). Howevre, the main factor has been the 325 mm of rain we have had since January, which has been very well distributed over all the months of the year. I don't think we have had any long period where you can say there has been a lack of water.

Now, we are left with pulse vegetables and triticale... we will see what yields we get.

Versión en español.