Reduce inputs waste with variable rates

Brad and Liz Moyle own and lease land in the Parilla district – no-till cropping 3500 hectares with Brad’s parents Hayden and Bev Moyle.

Their main crops are barley and wheat, with lupins as a break crop, some vetch for their clay soils and peas.

The rotation is generally three cereals then a break crop.

“The peas are a new inclusion this year, as vetch hasn’t really got a stable market at the moment, and there are better varieties of peas these days that can grow better in our soil types,” Brad said.

“We also grew more lupins this year, at the expense of barley, because the past two bumper seasons have left the soils in our lighter country a bit depleted.”  

Their soil types comprise clay loam (40 per cent), sandy loam (40pc), clay (15pc) and beach sand (5pc).

“Clay and sandy loams are our best performers if we feed them right,” he said. 

Four years ago, they bought a new John Deere Conserva Pak airseeder, which Brad said not only had better seed placement than their old seeder, but variable rate capabilities as well.

“It enabled us to use our yield mapping data from the header to identify where we needed to apply our urea more efficiently at seeding,” he said.

“Instead of a one-rate application, we could take fertiliser away from country that was already performing and put it in areas that need improvement, or take it away from areas that won’t ever perform and minimise wastage. It has evened up our paddocks.”

Brad said some of their rises were beach sand, only yielding 1.5 tonnes/ha in an average year.

“But after a lupin crop and boost of about 30 kilograms of urea, it went on to average 1.7-2t/ha last year,” he said.

“We are growing wheat where we never would before so being able to give certain areas a little bit extra isn’t a bad option.

“Our heavy clays last year got 25-35kg of urea and yielded 5-6t/ha, which we hope to achieve again.”

Brad said being able to adjust the rate while in the cab was also a bonus.

“It happens automatically with the prescription maps on the GPS,” he said.

“In our old seeder, the flat rate approach to a paddock wasn’t cutting it in different soil types.”

Brad said VR on their sprayer and spreader would be something they would consider in the future, along with liquid trace elements.

“I am also interested in disc seeding for even more seed placement accuracy in heavy stubbles,” he said.

“We did a 20ha trial this year to see how it handled residues, but the test paddock was sown late and last so the yield comparison wouldn’t be fair.”

Brad said seeding this year went from April 26 to June 3.

“A relatively normal time frame except we weren’t as organised as we would have liked because of the late harvest,” he said.

But they can’t complain about the weather, with 92 millimetres so far in the growing season, and 147mm since January. Their crops are at the early tillering stage.

Brad was out spraying broadleaf weeds and volunteers this week, plus fungicides in barley to combat spot form net blotch and net blotch.

They have also baited mice several times, particularly in lupins which were sown late into heavy barley stubbles.

While considering himself the “johnny-come-lately” of technology use on-farm, Brad said everyone should consider updating their machinery to boost the bottom line of their business where possible.

He said they used traditional farming practices until 2004, but then transitioned into no-till.

“We were late in the move to a one-pass operation, but in the past five years, we have been reaping the rewards of stubble retention with better moisture, soil and weed management,” he said.

“We are producing average yields, even in the dry seasons, and we had our best-ever harvest last season, with yields up to 6t/ha.”

At a recent SPAA Expo at Lameroo, Mr Moyle said while technology could be “scary”, it had helped fine tune their input use.