Minotaur barley on 165mm (6.5”) rows sown 1st May into 5t wheat stripper straw.

4 weeks later. 3-4 leaf 122 plants/m2 & tillering. Crop up on marginal moisture, no effective rainfall over the last 8 weeks. An impressive & resilient farming system. Des Kohlhagen MJKohlhagen

Faba beans on 250mm (10”) rows punching through 2 years of stripper stubble at Matong.

Stephen Hatty & team are pumped with how good the fabas are growing & nodulating on stored soil moisture.

1st knock AMS + glyphosate (Crucial)
applied straight

2nd knock Terrador + paraquat + pre em (Boxer Gold)

Working a treat on a range of hard to kill fallow weeds. Sowthistle, mallow, vol canola & RR ryegrass. A triple knock being considered for the ryegrass.

WeedSmart

Top job Michael Pfitzner & Barry Haskins its inspiring to see chaff decks & low cost HWSC still being used.

This is a classic case of site specific weed control - chasing weeds only on the CTF tramlines. Some high level thinking in the space - thanks to the Pfitzner family.
WeedSmart

Cowpea aphids back into lucerne pastures again. We will keep an eye on numbers so we don’t run any risk with photosensitivity in sheep. The angry looking red bull ants meanwhile are hooking in and hopefully make a dent on the aphid numbers. Cesar Australia

Very cool 😎

The power of timing + cultural weed control.

Vetch this year, barley last year, croptopped then cut for hay. Smaller block croptopped later but barley was harvested.

Huge reduction in ryegrass numbers where hay was cut early. #shouldadonethewholepaddock
WeedSmart

Looks a picture Charlie, excellent establishment % going off your big seed & plants/m2. The seeder is working a treat in warm, dry starts.

Staying dry in the south as grazing crops & canola start to struggle. Somehow they are tapping into subsoil moisture & hanging tough. The value of strict summer fallow programs is showing through, stored summer rainfall now keeping winter crops alive.

A fantastic resource for working out cereal growth stages, well done Grain Farmers of Ontario

Dry seeding in the west & south whilst it’s moist in the north.

How can we optimise our pre-em options at sowing.

Tune in to our webinar & hear from Mark Congreve ICAN & Mark Yerbury FMC for a timely tech update.

WeedSmart

A great thread Pete, agros & growers now have more confidence to use paraquat + G/14 + pre ems. It started from Mark Congreve Roberto Busi advice for RR rye then has been adapted for sowthistle, vol canola etc. Improved logistics also critical eg batchers, water points 👍

Thanks Rod, as always some fantastic insights on different harvesting options 👍

Single disc seeding systems proving their value in 2024. Dry on top but with moisture below, early April sown canola is emerging evenly. Accurate seed placement across a range of soils & stubble types. #noclods

For what it is worth I have been experimenting with a simple index over past two years to support intuition with dry seeding decisions. Idea is to update with new experiences. I’ve certainly found it useful to straighten up the thoughts

Fops & Dens are struggling on wild oats in the eastern states. Long term fop use in cereals is resulting in moderate to high levels of resistance. Pays to test!!

Lots of options especially with more diverse crop rotations eg canola & pulses. WeedSmart Peter Boutsalis

Many thanks to the growers & advisers who helped us pull together 6 paddock scale trials over the past 2 weeks as part of the new DIVERSE FARMS project. A great initiative by CSIRO to upscale the GRDC Farming Systems research, collaborating with NSW DPI, growers & advisers.

Trial block of wheat treated with Overwatch IBS then Mateno EPE last year. Strong residual effect during the summer fallow. Had 2 x camera sprays only for sowthistle & lettuce. Top shelf pre-ems but a low cost fallow. WeedSmart

Canola going into faba stubble west of Lockhart. Perfect conditions after last weekends rainfall. After 2 very wet years handy to be sowing this block with an actual seeder!! Disc chopping nicely through faba residue while soil temps still warm. Tom Carr #warakirricropping

Vetch grazing mixes emerging through stripper stubbles at Caragabal. Marginal moisture at sowing yet the crop is up & away. Ideal feed mix for winter & kicks off the double break rotation. WeedSmart Stephen Cooper Trevor Cooper