INNOVATIVE Pingelly hay contractors Murray Paterson and Brad Jennings are helping growers make the best of low yielding and rapidly drying canola crops by cutting and baling them for hay.
Mr Paterson views the move as another way for farmers to make the best of less than perfect canola crops and carry vital WA sheep numbers through the summer.
"It's a matter of making the best of what you've got and looking outside the square, it's just an option and it's the first time we've ever done it," Mr Paterson said.
"It's another option for feeding sheep through a long hot summer and looking at sheep prices in the new year.
"Of course you need to weigh it up and decide whether good quality hay or much lower than average canola yields are of the most worth to your farming operation."
Pingelly Hay Service had cut 200 hectares of canola for clients in the area and growers as far as Dumbleyung had begun to do the same.
But there was only a small window of opportunity to be able to salvage a less than perfect canola crop according to Mr Paterson.
"It's vital to cut them at the mid to late-flowering stage," he said.
"You've got to get to it before it pods up or if it has no pod-fill to get the best nutritional value out of it."
Canola hay had proven to be more nutritious than a number of other hays if cut at the right stage.
With a crude protein range between nine and 33 per cent and an energy level of six to 12 MJ/kg, canola hay grown and cut in WA had the potential to keep more sheep on farms over the summer and less on the back of trucks destined for the Eastern States.
"The hay will be used in the commercial and domestic market," Mr Paterson said.
"It's hard to say if there will ever be an export market for it.
"Margaret River and places like that are not having a really good run either and it's starting to get dry over that way too.
"The dairy and beef cattle industries might also really benefit from hay that's so high in protein throughout the summer."
Canola cut for hay dried faster and could be cut, raked and baled in five to seven days.
Mr Paterson advised growers to rake canola crops while they were still green to maintain what heads were on the plant.
"We've even been raking the barley and oats around Pingelly," he said.
"They're just so thin, luckily none of the farmers we've been contracting to have forward sold any of their canola and have the opportunity to do something with it."
One Pingelly grower consulted with nutritionist and productivity consultant Dr John Milton on the nutritional benefits of feeding canola hay to sheep.
"It has almost double the nutritional value than other hays," Mr Paterson said.
"But it needs to be introduced slowly to stock.
"Feeding sheep with the feeder first has been recommended so hungry stock don't gorge themselves on the protein rich hay."
Word-of-mouth that had surrounded the baling of canola had been widespread within the Wheatbelt and once desperate farmers had embraced the idea that "to get something back was better than nothing."
"It's a flow on effect," Mr Paterson said.
"It's more than a purely profit based decision.
"It's about breaking even and doing what ever you can to keep assets like healthy sheep on the farm."
Tough seasons throughout NSW and Victoria in recent years had seen growers successfully cut and bale canola for commercial use with the help of Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) trials.
"They did it during droughts and we need to have the same initiative to use what we have," Mr Paterson said.
"It stores just like any other hay and it's a good way to get the most out of what's actually in the paddocks."
Pingelly grower Kevin O'Brien had not received any rain on his farm since 20mm fell on August 12.
"We've had about 100mm since April," Mr O'Brien said.
"It broke my heart to cut canola for hay but in adverse conditions you sometimes just have to do something out of the ordinary.
"I had consultants telling me not to do it because crops were more robust than we thought, but I've got some dead stuff out here and I needed some kind of insurance.
"We need to do something to stay a bit positive."
Mr O'Brien had harvested 200kg/ha canola crops before and he vowed he wouldn't do it again.
"I haven't put a cost on the canola hay versus canola seed specifically, but if the hay's worth $200 plus per tonne it's better than salvage."
Of his 1200ha cropping program of wheat, oats, barley and canola Mr O'Brien had 100ha of his 250ha canola crop cut for hay.
"I normally cut 2500-3000 bales of oaten hay for export and for my own use, but this year I'm not going to get nearly enough out of it," he said.
"I've got sheep on the ground and I need to be half set up for the summer.
"You need to keep yourself covered."
After a very successful lambing season Mr O'Brien needed to keep his 3200 mated ewes and 3500 Merino and British breed lambs fed through the summer.
"The canola I had cut started to flower and pod-up," he said.
"It had exhausted all the soil moisture and there was no rain on the horizon.
"I reckon there'll be good money in sheep in the new year and I did what I needed to do for some security."
