Farmers assess re-sowing after gale force winds

The gusts that occurred prior to the rain caused a significant amount of furrow fill, so the crops, in some cases, are buried too deep.

Agronomist Michael Lamond said in a lot of those cases growers might leave them to come through.

"The ones that hadn't germinated and were sown dry, the majority of those cereals will be alright," Mr Lamond said.

"But in cases where they had already germinated and were either just through or on their way through, then got buried, they have less chance of making it through the furrow fill.

"They're the ones people will be re-sowing, but generally it's just patches in paddocks, not the entire thing."

Cereals that were up but then got sandblasted and cut-off by the wind will potentially be fine, as long as they're not buried too deep.

For those that do need to be re-sown, almost all will go to wheat, although that would have been a different story if the same thing happened last year.

"As you go north, most will probably opt for a quick variety of wheat, something like Havoc, because with the heat later on, the wheat variety stands to handle those conditions a bit better," Mr Lamond said.

"As you go further south, in the past it would have been barley, as that's generally a bit quicker than wheat and has the ability to still yield quite well, even if it's sown late.

"But no-one is going to risk that now, so it will also mostly be wheat, with potentially a few oats."

For lupins and canola that were up and got sandblasted, those growers are likely to sit on the fence and see what they end up with, before deciding what to do.

Mr Lamond said the big question is what to do with canola and lupin paddocks as most of them would have had herbicide on them, so cereals can't suddenly be put in.

"With that in mind, growers will be stuck with re-sowing the same crop they already had," he said.

"But anyone who had canola in the ground without herbicides might go back and replant that to a cereal."

Chapman Valley grower Brett Warr said he had to reseed about 100 hectares of lupins.

"We do get some big winds from time to time, but to get wind strength like that for that long, without any rain, was really unusual," Mr Warr said.

"It was pretty mixed, some paddocks copped a little bit, but it was mainly tramlines and headlands that blew.

"Most of what we re-seeded hadn't emerged yet, but the seed was just sitting on the surface."

Mr Lamond said while the re-sowing can cause pains at harvest as there are paddocks with different varieties or at different growth stages, the issue won't be that big of a problem.

"There's normally only several grades that growers go into, so if it's a noodle paddock they will go with a quicker noodle variety," he said.

"It can mean that those sections which needed to be re-sown could be a fraction later to mature and finish, but generally they won't be that far apart."

The situation occurring at the moment is not unusual and growers would have seen crops that have been buried or cut-off by wind, so they will make decisions based on the knowledge they have.

The cost of any re-sowing also shouldn't be huge, as it is unlikely there are any particularly large areas or whole paddocks that need to be done.