The Wallendbeen district has long been recognised as one of the premier wheat growing areas in NSW, but the region is still subject to seasonal vagaries.
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It is testament therefore, to the endeavours of those who entered the dryland wheat competition organised under the auspices of the Marcia and Ken Thorburn, their crops are worthy of inspection even though in-crop rainfall was less than average.
Grahame, Alex and Berkeley Hardie entered their 70ha paddock of Gregory sown on 10 May in the competition to support the Thorburn family’s dedication, not expecting to win but to compare their efforts against other farmers in the area.
Berkeley Hardie said it is a chance to interact with others, and at the same time pit their management skills against the season.
“You get an opportunity to talk to other agronomists and the judge of the competition and take into account their opinions on how our management is going,” he said.
“Their different points of view encourage us to see options we might never have considered.”
Having been successful in the dryland wheat competition the crop was then judged by Paul Parker, from Young for the southern district section of the 2018 ASC/Suncorp Dryland Wheat Competition.
Grown on 217mm in-crop rainfall, it was the first year of cereal in the rotation, following on canola last year after a pasture phase.
“We applied 85kg MAP at sowing along with Impact, and because of the rotation it didn’t actually get any Urea,” Berkeley said.
“We were also cautious given the seasonal outlook about pumping the crop too much.”
Mr Hardie said they had plans for two applications of Urea: but due to the turn in the season, they only applied the fertilizer to the older paddocks, restraining from pushing the newer paddocks in the rotation.
“We held back on this paddock because we were cautious as to how the season was being forecast,” he said.
Weed control is always key to the performance of dryland wheat crops and no more is that evident than those grown this year.
Mr Hardie said a Glyphosate and Sakura mix was applied to the paddock prior to sowing, but the spray which really helped the crop was that applied to the paddock during December following rain during November.
“I was spraying during harvest and the summer control of re-growth was critical for moisture retention and you could see it around the district,” he said.
“The timing of the summer spraying was important, with those paddocks sprayed late not performing as well.”
Mr Hardie said they reorganized their team during the harvest which allowed him to concentrate on spraying the summer re-growth.
Sensitive support for wheat contest
Entering a crop in the dryland wheat competition run in the Wallendbeen district is a matter of pride for Grahame, Alex and Berkeley Hardie, Stirling, Wallendbeen.
The brothers wished to pay tribute to Marcia and Ken Thorburn, from Wallendbeen who have been the long-serving organizers of the dryland wheat competition for many years, following on from Ken’s father.
“They are dedicated, and without their commitment in getting people to put crops in the competition it probably would not happen,” Grahame Hardie said.
“They are very interested and we think it important we support them.”
“It is a bit of fun,” Berkeley Hardie said.
“We have always supported the local competition no matter the season.”
