THE Kelly family of Wongarbon has been hosting cropping trials for at least 40 years and this year members are also going “all out” with their own nitrogen trial on a 40-hectare paddock of Gregory wheat.
They have been conservation farming for as many years and according to Alistair Kelly haven’t burnt stubble for at least 30 years.
“We’ve been no-till farming for the past 20 years,” he said.
Alistair Kelly is the youngest son of John and Margaret Kelly, third generation owners of “Hill View”, Wongarbon, who have encouraged NSW government agriculture departments and personnel to conduct research on the property with crops and sheep.
They also run the Marocara Poll Dorset stud which was among the first to initiate performance recording and breeding values.
Now in the hands of the fourth generation, Alistair and his wife Prue, elder brother Angus and wife Airlie and their families are carrying on the Kelly tradition with their parents.
This year the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) is conducting new wheat and barley variety trials and a nitrogen response trial on a two hectare plot as it has done for decades.
“It’s good to see the DPI has maintained its trial work even with the job cutbacks,” Alistair Kelly said.
From past trials he is keen to introduce a new early sowing type wheat variety Lancer and LaTrobe, a new barley which could replace Hindmarsh.
The Kellys began general sowing wheat in rows of 30 centimetre spacings in their trial paddock on May 27 with 60 kilograms a hectare of Gregory, 80kg/ha of monoammonium and 50kg/ha of urea.
The wheat was sown directly into last year’s canola stubble after coming out of four years of lucerne pasture.
“The crop in this paddock was top-dressed with 70kg/ha of urea on August 13,” Mr Kelly said.
At one end the family reserved a small area where they sowed four rows for their nitrogen trial.
“We sowed one row with zero urea, and three other rows at 40kg/ha, 80kg/ha and 120kg/ha each,” he said.
These rows were also top-dressed on August 13 at the same rate as the rest of the paddock.
“Earlier in the season you could see the response,” Mr Kelly said.
“Mostly the colour change in the different rows and more tillers (were produced) in the 40kg, 80kg and 120kg rows than the zero trial.”
A weather front was predicted after they top-dressed, but they ended up with about five millimetres of rain.
“The urea didn’t get into the profile as we would have liked, but I think that 50mm to 75mm we had in mid-September washed it in,” he said.
“So there may be more of a protein increase than a yield increase.”
He said the DPI would assist at harvest so he could get a yield response.
“We will become a little more scientific with our own plots this year with the help of DPI’s Trangie Research Centre researcher Greg Brooke.
“He has a weigh bin so we can harvest on the spot and measure out an area and weigh what we pull off to get an accurate (measure of) yield.”