Hybrid seed corn needs good management practices

Mr Coxhead is a contractor for Pacific Seeds and grows about 35 hectares of corn under two different irrigation models: trickle tape and conventional rain gun irrigation.

"The corn grown for the hybrid seed include shorter growing season and imidazolinone tolerant (IT) varieties," Mr Coxhead said.

In 2021, the Coxhead's corn crop was recognised with the presentation of an award by Pacific Seeds for its outstanding yields of graded seed.

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"The crop yielded more than 10 tonnes a hectare," Ian Coxhead said.

Planting the corn is a customised method; the 'female' corn [or seed producer] is planted in six-row strips with three rows of the 'male' corn, which provides the pollen to fertilise the female plants on either side.

Mr Coxhead said the first of the three rows of male corn is planted the same day as the female corn, then five days later, another row of male corn is planted, followed by the third and final row five days later.

"This will give us a 15-day window of pollen production," Mr Coxhead said.

Also used to stimulate the pollen spread is a low-hovering helicopter to generate strong wind flow from the pollen-producing tassels at the top of the plant. He said a helicopter was used six times this season to maximise the pollen spread.

"Normally, the pollen drops from the tassels onto the silk on the cobs below. But with hybrid corn, we were trying to get the best of two species in our corn," Mr Coxhead said.

"We use a special topping machine, like two lawn mower decks, to run down the female corn rows to remove the tassels. The customer also brings in labour to walk down the rows and remove the few tassels the topper misses."

Trickle tape irrigation is another cost efficiency but an expensive capital establishment cost. The Coxheads have introduced about 70ha of trickle tape irrigation, perfect for producing corn crops and lucerne for hay.

"The trickle tape uses only one-third of the water used with a rain gun, and it gets right to the roots," he said.

"The tape is about 450 mm under the ground and in a perfect place for the root zone to receive water and nutrients. It suits the corn right down to the ground," he said. "The tape is a water-saving efficiency in itself."

The cost of subsurface trickle tape is about $25,000/ha.

"It's a big investment, but it's putting the water and fertiliser right into the root system."

Mr Coxhead said newer versions of the trickle tape are more resistant to attacks by mice and crickets, providing a long-term and efficient method of crop production.

Once ripe, the corn is harvested by Pacific Seeds using a cob picker when the moisture content of the grain is about 17 per cent, Steve Coxhead said.

"It's then trucked to Wellington, where it is dried and taken off the cob.

"They do this instead of using a conventional header because there is much less loss from cracked and broken grain," he said.

Controlling the voracious Armyworm in the Coxhead's corn resulted in another form of technology this growing season. A lack of contractor availability meant a different chemical application to the growing crop.

The Coxheads employed Nowendoc contractor James Lyon of Lyon Ag, who has two large drones used to spray the crops.

"The first thing James did was to map the paddock, enter the coordinates into his controller and then set the drones to their work," Ian Coxhead said.

Water and its allocation are integral to Coxhead's farming enterprise.

This year irrigators along the Cockburn River, which bisects his farms, will receive a total allocation of their entitlement.

Ian Coxhead has a long connection with the Cockburn Valley Irrigator's Association, serving as chairman for 33 years. He is now on the customer advisory group for the Peel and Namoi valleys and has served with Namoi Water for 13 years.

Lucerne is grown in rotations with the corn and barley crops by the Coxheads. The damage incurred by the 2019 drought is still impacting the enterprise.

"That's why we're growing the corn; it's good cash flow for us while we work on getting our lucerne paddocks back into production.

"The rotation of lucerne with the corn and barley also provide good levels of soil nitrogen," Steve Coxhead said.

"Lucerne has a life of five to seven years, and we can get around six cuts a season from our lucerne," he said.