BEAUMONT grain grower Tom Brown (left) with seasonal staff Jock Craig, Perth, George Palk, England, Gordon McWilliam, Esperance, Tom’s son Will Brown with dog Lily, Dan Walker, Esperance, with dog Tigger and permanent staff member Chris Wells in a La Trobe barley crop.
Tom said while barley and canola had yielded well, it was very disappointing to find that like many farmers in the district, wheat had suffered the effects of frost.
“In our case we are hoping it will be less than 20 per cent,” he said.
Given the wet year they only started harvest on October 25, 10 days later than in the previous two years.
“This crop of La Trobe barley is going about 4.7 tonnes per hectare and we've had to use crop lifters because the weight has pushed a fair bit of it over.”
This was the Browns’ second season growing La Trobe which was used to replace Hindmarsh to chase malt barley premiums.
“We like to keep rotating through the new varieties, but I don't know that we'll make malt because there's a bit of stain in it,” Tom said.
They don’t bale their barley straw, instead preferring to leave it on the paddocks.
“Our best canola crops have been grown on heavy barley stubble,” he said.
“It helps retain the moisture.
“But I will probably have to run a light two-way plough over the stubble so we can get through it easier with the seeding bar next year."
The Browns’ program for 2016 comprises 2200ha of Mace wheat, 780ha of La Trobe barley and 1600ha of Benito and Stingray canola, with the Benito handling the wet better and outperforming the Stingray by about 0.3t/ha.
