Farmers set for a bumper maize crop this harvest, analysis shows
6th October 2023
Crop analyses carried out by Limagrain UK indicate that most stands of maize are on track to produce a promising crop, with the majority predicted to be ready for harvest in the next week to 10 days.
The pre-harvest tests, analysing dry matter; starch; non-digestible fibre; cell wall digestibility and metabolisable energy content; were carried out at a maize demonstration and testing day, hosted by Limagrain and Spunhill at Limagrain’s maize variety trial site on the outskirts of Wrexham.
The event was attended by more than 40 farm businesses from across the region who not only had their own crop samples tested for free, but were also given a tour of the Limagrain variety trial where the latest forage, grain and energy crop varieties are being assessed in real-world conditions.
“The tests clearly indicated that whilst a minority of crops are already at the point of harvest, the majority are still a week or more away from being ready, with dry matter levels still a little on the low side,” said Henry Louth, key account manager of Forage Crops at Limagrain UK.
“For most maize growers, the start of this year’s harvest has been delayed by about a fortnight as a result of July’s dull and overcast conditions which saw sunshine hours at 81% of the average for the month. Most crops have caught up well since then, with a few notable ‘very early’ varieties including Dignity and Gema really standing out in terms of maturity.”
He added those two varieties tested especially well for dry matter, starch and ME content, and recorded outstanding results for cell wall digestibilty.
“If conditions in early October are favourable, we should see most growers taking their crops before the middle of the month, which will hopefully make for a clean and easy harvest and a good quality ensiled crop,” he concluded.
