MINGENEW grower Jared Heitman believes it has been one of the "cruisiest" starts to harvest in some time.
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"We're about 20 per cent of our way through the program and we'll be done by November 29 all things going well," he said.
So far, the team has been harvesting in the non-deep ripped paddocks and Jared said he was looking forward to seeing results on the home block, where paddocks were deep ripped to address non-wetting soils and three tonne per hectare of lime was applied to lift pH.
"With a good harvesting week, we get going by 7.30am and knock off at 9.30pm once the bins are full for the trucks to get started in the morning," he said.
Jared, pictured with partner Roxy Elyward, who is driving the chaser bin this season, dog Missy and second header operator Henry Gibbs, said it had been a good start to harvest on the 5800 hectare property he runs with parents Donald and Julie.
"We started in the canola on October 22 and finished on the 26th and averaged 3.1 tonnes per hectare," he said.
"We grew 43Y23, which has a low oil content but yield is king and our oil is between 43-45 per cent.
"We waited a week and got stuck into the noodle wheat, which averaged 4.4t/ha," he said.
"We've skipped into the lupins due to cooler weather and it's going quite well at 2.9t/ha."
Protein had been an issue in the wheat, with the noodle wheat going equal parts ANW1 and ANW2, although Jared said this was "quite optimisable".
The Mace wheat was yielding 3.9t/ha, reaching ASW1 grade.
"Back at nitrogen application time we didn't expect the extra 1t/ha we've now yielded so proteins are back," he said.
The team is harvesting with two John Deere 9660 bullet rotors, which Jared said had been good machines.
"We've had them about eight seasons and they haven't given us much grief at all, although we'll be looking to trade them in in the next year or so."
