THE Davies family in Far West NSW recently took ownership of a new Hardi Rubicon sprayer – the second released in the world and the first with a 48.5-metre boom – just in time for seeding.
Murray and Ann Davies, with son Matthew and his partner Sophie Wade, run 39,000-hectare Burtundy Station, near Wentworth, where about 6500ha is cropped, 140ha is under vines and 700 Angus and Poll Hereford cattle are run.
They also have a further 4000ha of cropping at nearby Wild Dog Station, in a partnership called KPH Ag.
Seeding began on Thursday last week – about a fortnight behind schedule.
“We should have started on April 10, as we normally go in dry,” Murray said.
“But the forecast had been for really dry weather so we held off for a bit. Our chickpeas had inoculant on it that required moisture. Then we got caught by too much rain.”
Last week the property had 85 millimetres of rain.
“The soil profile is close to full so it’s full steam ahead for seeding,” Murray said.
The Rubicon self-propelled sprayer will apply pre-emergents ahead of the seeder, before then being used for in-crop spraying of herbicides and fungicides.
“We have also added another tank to allow for liquid fertiliser,” Matthew said.
“If it’s a good year, with good subsoil moisture like we have, then we will be going pretty hard on our fertilisers as soon as the crop is in.”
Matthew said they bought the Rubicon to get “more output from the manpower we have”, which is achievable through the 9300-litre tank – one of the biggest on the market – and 48.5m front.
“We had been trialling it the past fortnight using water, and we believe we can get up to spraying 140ha an hour, compared to about 80ha/hr with our old sprayer,” he said.
“There is also less crop knockdown with the skinny wheels, which should take us from 5 per cent to about 2pc disturbance.
“With the boom at the front of the machine, there will also be better visibility and less dust affecting the chemical.”
The family is also running two relatively new John Deere 1830 bar seeders, featuring double-shoot knife points, with JD 1910 aircarts.
Pulses have become an important part of the rotation for the Davies family, making up a third of their 10,500-hectare cropping operation.
Murray Davies said they had been wheat-on-wheat for about 20 years before moving into pulses five years ago.
“Our paddocks were getting tired, and spelling with livestock was only encouraging weed growth,” he said.
“Pulses enable us to control weeds better, allow a disease and chemical break, while having agronomic benefits for our soils, such as fixating nitrogen.
“They’re also good for our bottom line.”
Wheat, barley, canola, chickpeas (pictured left) and field peas are grown on sandy loam soils.
Three varieties of wheat – Yitpi, Grenade and Kord – are used to spread out time of sowing. New wheat variety Scepter is also being trialled this year after good reports from neighbours.
“Last year our wheat averaged 2.5t/ha,” Murray said. “Scepter was similar in yield but easier to harvest, particularly handling higher moisture, meaning more hours on the header.”
Spartacus barley will also be trialled this season to “see if it suits our country”.
“We have heard a lot of good reports, plus it’s another option for weed control,” Murray said.
But Compass barley, trialled for the first time last year, is getting the flick.
“We have gone back to mainly Scope,” Murray said.
“It may be itchy, but it yields well, and the demand for malt barley is amazing. There’s strong demand overseas for feed and malt barley.”
Murray said they averaged about 2.5-3t/ha last season for their barley, averaging about $160/t.