What better news could we report than the fact that at Merriwa this season with less rainfall better winter crops are expected to be harvested.
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That is a wonderful achievement for all involved with the 2019 season expected to prove a better one than 2018 - despite virtually no in-crop rain being received.
Two rain events combined with paddock and crop management have made all the difference and hopefully this will provide farmers with a program to follow in future years.
This good news was delivered and on display at the recent Merriwa Cropping field day held among thriving barley and other winter cereal crops.
Hosted by Hunter Local Land Services the day provided farmers not only with inspirational cropping stories but the latest on fodder crops, pastures and making the most of the Bureau of Meteorology information.
One of the speakers was Landmark Townsend,Merriwa, agronomist, Tim Sawley who summed up the cropping season in the district as 'less rainfall, better crops'.
He expects the barley crops to gross around $1000/hectare which means the growers will break even in one of the toughest cropping years recorded for the district.
"Thats good news financial but its just as important for their morale to be able to see that crop its a boost for everyone and then we have the lessons learnt on how to handle those dry conditions to set us up for future years, " he said.
Tim based the success on four main management tools.
According to Tim the number one lesson is fallow management. Good clean fallow to store as much summer rainfall for the winter crops is vital. This year's crop was sown on the back of 75mm of rain in December and 100mm in March.
"The cereal crops and oats in the district were grown on two rain events with virtually no follow-up rain. They survived on stored sub-soil moisture thanks to clean fallow," he said.
The second lesson is fertility. Eighty per cent of the fertility came from the fertiliser sown with the seed, he said.
"Top dressing with nitrogen and potash didn't achieve much this season due to no in-crop rain events so the crops survived on the sowing ferilisers," Tim said.
Lesson number three was sowing depth. The best results were obtained for crops sown at 50mm and 40mm for smaller seeds - this is about 25mm deeper than normal depths.
"By sowing deeper, at the very limit of the seeds requirements, the crop established quicker and developed secondary roots to ensure its survival - making the most of the sub-soil moisture," Tim said.
The last lesson was timing. Get the crop in early don't wait for a rain event that was the message.
Tim said farmers had often delayed sowing waiting for a rain event his advice was don't wait for the rain if you have sub soil mositure sow on a set date.
Nine out of ten years we can see the best results come from canola when sown in mid April, he said.
Overall no crops would have grown without the stored sub-soil moisture get that right and you have the best chance of harvesting a break-even crop.
Commenting on the livestock side of the equation Tim said in dry years straight pastures were unreliable.
"With less rainfall producers are better to sow some fodder crops to maximise the use of any stored water that way they have some feed available either in the paddock or turn the crop into silage or hay, " he said.
"This is another lessen learnt from the continuing low rainfall across the district. If you have a paddock suitable for fodder crops then this should be considered an option to ensure better feed availability for your livestock."
Special mention should be made of the Merriwa's Campbell family who last month were awarded one of the top awards at the 2019 Meat Standards Australia (MSA) Excellence in Eating Quality Awards for NSW.
LD Campbell Pty Ltd, Merriwa, won Most Outstanding MSA Beef Producer (Band 1) which recognises producers turning off larger MSA consignment volumes from any non-feedlot operation. Congratulations Ron, Peter, Mark and your families.