Combines When to swath barleyIJ

Here is some info about malting barley from Alberta that I copied. I would guess that feed barley is about the same and quality would not be as important. Swathing Malting Barley Barley for malt must be uniformly and fully ripe when it is harvested. It may be swathed without loss of yield or malting quality as soon as the crop has turned from green to light brown or buff color and the kernels contain from 30 to 35 per cent moisture. Kernel moisture should be determined on samples of grain representative of the whole field, using a reliable moisture meter. Judging kernel moisture content on the basis of growth stages such as soft, mid or firm dough is not precise enough for producing high quality malting barley. Malting barley should be swathed at a height of 15 to 20 cm to lay a swath that is light enough to dry quickly but heavy enough and overlapped well enough to feed properly and continuously into the combine. It is important to keep the swath off the ground to avoid discoloring the heads.