A LACK of in-crop rainfall didn't damage David Quast's chances of a high-yielding wheat crop at "Domang", Crooble, this season.
Mr Quast's Gregory wheat crop has taken out the 2014 Agricultural Societies Council (ASC) of NSW Suncorp Bank Dryland Northern Region Field Wheat Competition.
A fourth generation farmer at Crooble, Mr Quast has been growing Gregory for the past seven years and said there weren't many other high-yielding varieties on the market suited to his area.
The winning crop yielded 5.4 tonnes a hectare, with the overall crop averaging 4.3t/ha.
"It's not a quality wheat. It has trouble with making protein but it's hard to beat for yield," Mr Quast said.
"For our markets this is an ideal variety. Most of our market is base grade so you've got to grow for yield."
Mr Quast has received 280 millimetres of rain for the year, nearly two-thirds of that pre-planting.
He said 109mm in March, two months before planting, had set up the crop, providing a good moisture profile.
"It wasn't a full moisture profile, probably about two-thirds, but enough to give us a sowing opportunity," Mr Quast said.
The crop had a small shower of 15mm after planting, a further 40mm in June, 50mm in August and nearly 25mm across September and October.
Mr Quast said the timing allowed the crop to get full use of the moisture.
"What rain we had was timed well and rain on August 18 before grain fill was perfect timing," he said.
"(But) we're still running a good 100mm to 150mm short for the year."
The 405-hectare crop was sown on May 8 at 50 kilograms a hectare on 333-millimetre spacing in a paddock that had grown cotton in the 2012-13 summer season.
"We like to sow our wheat half a row width off line and then our cotton goes down a straight line so it has a full row of wheat stubble either side to protect it," Mr Quast said.
Urea was applied two months before planting at a rate of 150kg/ha and Mr Quast fallow sprayed with Roundup in April.
The wheat was sown with 60kg/ha of Granulock Supreme Z.
"We put 150kg/ha of fertiliser and 60kg/ha of starter on every crop except chickpeas," Mr Quast said.
Mr Quast applied 100mm/ha of Topik in July for black oats control then used Tordon at a rate of one litre a hectare and Ally at five grams a hectare.
He said he always sprayed for weeds, but didn't have any issues with resistance.
"We are still getting away with just using Topik, but I think the rotation plays a role in weed control."
The five-year rotation includes chickpeas, canola, wheat, cotton, then wheat again.
"Our rotation is giving each crop the maximum opportunity to set itself up well," Mr Quast said.
"I try to stick to that rotation but I might start growing chickpeas straight after the cotton."
He said being able to sow chickpeas to a depth of 15cm with a tyne planter would allow him to increase the level of phosphorous in the soil.
"Chickpeas don't need a lot of moisture so it's a good opportunity to sow deep and to turn the starter rates up a bit and get our phosphorous down deeper with the tyne planter, which we're not able to do with our disc planter."
Mr Quast said the country was usually zero till except after growing cotton, with pupae busts required as part of licensing agreements.
"That's the only time the country gets worked, after cotton," Mr Quast said.
"It's been like that for the past eight years.
"Before that it was minimum till."
Mr Quast forward sells some of the crop each year using a broker to help market it.
He's forward sold about 60 per cent of his 2014 wheat crop and will store the rest on farm, spreading risk on the marketing side of the business.
"I don't like to sell at harvest, mainly because I don't want to be pushed into the lower prices," Mr Quast said.
"It's purely cash flow-based, depending on when we need the money."
Mr Quast has 2500 tonnes of bulk storage on the property.
"We store some and warehouse some at Goondiwindi to get onto the northern grain line," Mr Quast said.
"In the past two years the money has been better going to Brisbane than Newcastle."
Rainfall timing key to high yield at Crooble
RAINFALL played a big role in David Quast's high-yielding wheat crop at Crooble which has taken out the 2014 Agricultural Societies Council (ASC) of NSW Suncorp Bank Dryland Northern Region Field Wheat Competition.
Averaging 4.3 tonnes a hectare across the entire crop, this year's Gregory wheat performed better than previous seasons with higher rainfall.
The wheat crop was harvested a fortnight ago, with durum harvest finishing late last week and yielding 4.1t/ha.
"This is a better wheat yield than last year (2.9t/ha), when we had more rain," said Mr Quast, pictured with Young-based crop competition judge, Paul Parker.
"The quality is similar so it's more about the timing of rain and sowing.
"With the rain it's up there with the best crops we've grown."
Mr Parker had predicted a yield of 5t/ha, but said it could have gone to 5.2 or 5.3t/ha.
"It's a nice crop, especially considering it hasn't been an easy season in many ways," Mr Parker said.
"Most heads are three grains wide but there are a few with four grains, an average 36 to 40 grains per head.
"Given the in-crop rainfall it's a great result."
Mr Parker said Mr Quast had done a good job with fallow management.
"There's a small amount of crown rot and the odd black oats plant," Mr Parker said.
"The rotation is obviously helping keep grass weeds under control."
