GROWING top-quality cereal and pea crops for seed is an important part of the farm business for Callington growers Brett and Nathan Wegener.
The brothers crop 1400 hectares and run 1300 Dohne sheep with parents Colin and Raelene, and Nathan's wife Jodie. The family has been growing seed crops since the early 1980s.
What started as a simple value-adding opportunity evolved into Colrae Seeds, a successful business that is one of five AWB SeedNet partners in South Australia. SeedNet is a national network of regionally-based operators who produce, process and distribute AWB Seeds-licensed varieties.
Landmark agronomist David Millan is helping to strengthen this significant part of the farm business.
David monitors 1400ha that the Wegeners sow annually to barley, wheat, canola, field peas and lupins.
Particularly extensive monitoring is carried out on 400ha sown for seed, from which 700 tonnes of seed was retained last year.
David said the agronomic program he formulated for the seed crops was more robust, to ensure the production of top-quality seed. Optimal crop nutrition resulted in better quality seed, while weed control was vital to ensure a clean crop.
"Producing a good, clean sample of high-quality seed means that growers who buy the seed will have the best chance of growing a crop with good germination and good nutrition," he said.
"Disease management also needs to be exactly right, so we closely monitor crop diseases and recommend a robust fungicide program. If we don't get that right in growing the seed, then it won't be right for the farmers who buy the seed."
The Wegeners grow and sell Buloke, Hindmarsh and Maritime barleys, Catalina and Mace wheats and Kaspa peas.
David said the cereal varieties grown on the Wegeners' property would find a good fit in most areas of South Australia, particularly the Upper South East and Mallee. He said positive results from trials at Callington had also converted into strong, local seed sales for Buloke and Hindmarsh barleys.
On the Wegeners' property, Buloke had been an outstanding variety, yielding 4.8 tonnes a hectare last year, with all received as malt barley.
In the four years the family had been growing Buloke, its yield had been equal to or better than the feed varieties, achieving 6-8 per cent higher yields than Sloop or Schooner.
New feed barley Hindmarsh was also high yielding, averaging 4.8-4.9t/ha over the past two years, even with dry finishes.
Last year, most of the Wegeners' Hindmarsh made feed 1, while some other varieties were making feed 2 and 3.
Mace and Catalina were two varieties that had proven themselves as high-yielding wheats.
"Mace will be another very high-yielding variety, above most others in the market, but it will need a good rust management program," David said.
"Catalina has got a good disease profile and is a good, high-yielding variety. It appears to be more of a sleeper variety - not many growers have got into it, but I believe it's going to take off."
* Full Cropping report in Stock Journal, November 26 issue.
Email a friend
Favourites
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Digg
StumbleUpon
MySpace
Reddit
Newsvine
LinkedIn
Kwoff
Twitter