Weed control aids Mallee crop growth

Mr Singh, who farms with parents Kev and Helen, made the switch to no-till cropping about seven years ago, and this, alongside "being hot on weed control" and maintaining ground cover, has made a big difference in their operation.

While their usual average annual rainfall is about 300 millimetres, so far this year they have only received 120mm, with 105mm of that during the growing season.

Despite that, they managed to grow a crop that impressed the judges in the Browns Well crop competition, winning with a crop of Scepter wheat that is estimated to yield 1.35 tonnes a hectare.

Mr Singh works on a two-year rotation, with cereal followed by a grass-free pasture, such as medic, or vetch, used for sheep feed.

"Vetch puts the nitrogen in the mix and is also a good sheep feed so we're getting the two positives out of that," he said.

He said the pasture phase also improved their moisture retention.

"We had a paddock where we put barley on wheat stubble, and it was no good," he said. "The pasture helps conserve some moisture."

The vetch also has the benefit of helping them control their grass weeds.

They have also twice used windrow burning to ease their weed seed burden.

They last used this in 2015, with the trash after harvest left in rows following harvest and then burnt the following March, before the paddock was sown to vetch.

"It was something else I thought would help (manage weeds) and I think I can see benefits," Mr Singh said.

This desire to manage weeds meant later sowing for their cereal crops this year.

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He said they were reluctant to dry-sow this year, preferring to wait and see if it would rain. They also managed a knock-down spray after the germination of weeds, which meant all available moisture was able to be used by the crop.

"In a normal year, we hope to be finished by mid-May, but the past couple of years, we've been a bit later," he said.

The Singhs have also been trialling deep ripping on their sand hills to reduce compaction and as part of seep management on their land to minimise the bare patches and maximise the productive land.

"We're trying to fix seeps before they become a bare patch because once it goes through that, it's harder to fix," Mr Singh said.

Working with Insight Extension for Agriculture's Chris McDonough, the deep ripping is followed by either a chicken or pig manure slurry to improve root penetration and crop growth to make better use of moisture through the soil and avoid it collecting down the slope.

A CROP of Scepter wheat, sown on May 20 following a vetch rotation, has impressed the judges to win the Browns Well crop competition in the Mallee.

The crop Lachlan gained a total 84.57 points from the judging panel - made up of fellow farmers, regional agronomists and other industry representatives.

Lachlan said they only grew Scepter wheat.

"It works well on our soil type, even in a tough year it seems to hang on better," he said.

"It seems to have good growing quality when it does rain, as a good yielding crop."

The Singhs beat out the second place recipient by only the narrowest of margins, with last year's winner Clinton Scholz, Taplan, scoring 84.43 points for another Scepter crop.

Mr Scholz was also commended for his water-use efficiency, achieving an estimated 1.24 tonnes a hectare despite only receiving 86 millimetres of growing-season rainfall, and 91mm for the year to-date.

His crop, sown on April 28, also followed a vetch rotation.

Third place went to Bernie Lehmann, Peebinga, on 82.6 points for another Scepter crop, following a pasture fallow, estimated to yield 1.49t/ha - the highest yield of the competition - following 115mm of growing season rain and 122mm, year to-date.

While the dry season played a big part in crop quality this year, many participants' crops had also been hit by frost.