A crop of Wintaroo oats grown in the St Kitts area by Doering Brothers, Truro, in 2015 has won two of the SA awards in Feed Central’s National Hay Quality Competition.
Paul Doering said he and brother Michael were humbled to win the best colour and feed analysis in the cereal hay section.
He said they put a lot of hard work into getting the nutrition and colour right with their local Landmark agronomist Aaron Nitschke and hay contractor Steinert Contracting, Eden Valley.
“It is not just about producing big, bulky crops, but more about getting good quality for the end-user,” Mr Doering said.
They are hoping for some high-yielding hay crops and have been lucky to have good curing weather.
Mr Doering says the only concern is prices are likely to be lower.
“Volume-wise, it will be a big year for hay,” he said.
“A lot of people are growing it from a gross margin perspective because it has been so good for the past four years and even non-traditional growers have put in a lot of country.
“On the flipside there are not the drought areas to sell into – it has been a brilliant season nearly everywhere.”
Other SA winners in the 2015-16 competition were the Koch family, Tallageira Pastoral Company, Frances, who won the lucerne hay category, and for the second consecutive year Rob Mills, Booleroo Centre, won the best vetch crops.
More than 650 lots, with an average lot size of 289 tonnes, competed nationally. In total, 188,258t of large round and square bales were inspected.
