WHILE it took three significant machinery purchases for Nurom's Graham Seidel and family to transition to no-till cropping in 2017, the decision has quickly paid dividends, with residual soil moisture helping them get through two dry seasons.
Encouraged by the crops grown using no-till programs in the district and weary from the time spent on recreational tillage under his old program, Mr Seidel made the switch with the purchase of a tractor, a 21-foot Horwood Bagshaw bar and an upgraded airseeder.
"Our program prior to going no-till was a simple case of slashing the stubbles post-harvest, then we'd run over the paddock with the harrow crossways so we could break it up," he said.
"Then we'd tickle through the ground dry with the cultivator, not very deep in order to break it up more.
"If needed, we'd run the prickle chain over it and by then it was broken down enough so we could get through it with the air seeder.
"We were doing lots of recreational tillage and the only reason we were in that system was because of the affordability of machinery."
Mr Seidel, who farms with wife Sharon and their five children, initially eased into minimum tillage with an old Connor Shea airseeder, borrowing a neighbour's Concord airseeder to put crops into heavier stubbles.
"We also got the neighbour to put sheep feed in dry and that went into a reasonably heavy stubble," he said.
"If we were to do that ourselves, we probably would have had to cross-harrow it twice, work it once or twice and prickle chain it before we could even think about getting through with our old rig. It was a no-brainer that we had to do something.
"First, we had to purchase a bar, then a tractor and then we had to get an air-cart to put behind the bar. We had three main purchases in that transition to no-till."
The main changes Mr Seidel has observed since going no-till have been increased soil moisture retention, increased organic matter through no burning or soil disturbance, and increased soil pliability from the increased organic matter.
He said no-till was pivotal in their 2019 results.
"We were able to utilise the moisture when it was ready to be sowed," he said.
"In 2019, if we would have had to wait for rain and then dig the soil up, then go back to sow it, it would have been dry. With no-till, we got the seed in straight away when we got rain.
"The crop has then been able to utilise more residual moisture because we haven't worked the soil as much."
Mr Seidel said he was always willing to implement new techniques.
"It's important to try new things to keep ticking along," he said.
"You probably wouldn't like to be treated by a doctor who was trained 50 years ago and uses the same techniques today."
SEASON SHAPING UP WELL AT NUROM
THE Seidel family grows wheat, barley, beans and oats at Nurom, south of Port Pirie, and also run a 200-head self-replacing Merino flock.
Graham Seidel said they were happy with the season and crop growth to-date, particularly their Hatchet wheat.
They had received 234 millimetres of rain to the end of June, well on the way to their yearly average of about 350mm.
"Until the end of June last year, we had only had a total of 134mm," Mr Seidel said.
With their no-till program proving its worth in dry seasons, Mr Seidel said he expected similar results in an average or good year.
Located on the junction of the Broughton River and Crystal Brook Creek, the Seidel farm has experienced significant flood events in wet years.
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