WHILE the vast majority of the UK is in need of rainfall, winter wheat has been combined at the earliest date in living memory while the sun still shines on a farm in Somerset.

The wheat harvest began last weekend (July 7) on Higher Woodland Farm near Taunton, around two weeks earlier than the previously recalled earliest harvest, and will be processed by crimping.

Tom Lucas, who farms around 1600 acres with his parents, John and Diane, and brothers, Dan, Adam and Toby, said that the wheat came in at a moisture content of 35%, and was processed through the farm’s existing machinery, a Korte 700.

This machine had previously been used for rolling dry grain, but this year has been put to use for crimping, a process by which the early-harvested grain is rolled, has a preservative applied and is consolidated and sheeted in a clamp in a similar way to silage.

“We haven’t tried crimping before but it is allowing us to start harvest early and spread our harvest window,” said Tom.

“The crop is a bit greener and we have set up the sieves slightly differently, but the basics are the same as harvesting dry grain. Dad drives the combine a bit more steadily and it’s doing a lovely job – it’s producing a really nice sample.”

He added that while the great weather was the main attraction for harvesting early, the greater feed value of the crimped as opposed to dry cereals will be an important bonus being used for feeding his beef cattle and high-yielding dairy herd.

“We have heard about the higher feed value of crimp and we shall see how it performs this winter,” he said.

Kelvin Cave, from the feed preservation specialist company of the same name, commented: “Because Tom isn’t waiting for the moisture of his wheat to reach the usual 15%, yield reductions from disease, shrivelling and the loss of grain are minimal. This is proving to be particularly beneficial this year, when many farmers leaving their crops to reach full maturity are facing very poor yields because of the drought conditions.

“More of the feed value is also preserved in the earlier-harvested crimp and the grain is processed in a way which is safer for the animal,” he adds. “This means that, compared with dry grain, higher quantities of crimp can be fed to ruminants without the risk of acidosis. This leads to better livestock performance in both beef and dairy herds, and even in sheep.”