Michael dials back sowing rate

Mr Michael's 1050-hectare farm, Percyton, has been in his family for decades, and is made up of 390ha of wheat, barley, canola and lentils, with the remaining paddocks native grass pastures, on which he runs a 500-head self-replacing Merino flock.

With a dry winter last year causing Mr Michael's best crops to 'peter out', he reduced the seeding rates in canola and wheat this year.

"Last year, where the crop was thin, it got through to rain in spring and performed reasonably well, but where it was really thick and looked fantastic all year, it kind of died," he said.

He sowed canola at 1.5 kilograms/ha this year, after a 2.5kg/ha seeding rate last year, while wheat was sown at 60kg/ha, down from 80-90kg/ha, traditionally.

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"You might not get absolute top-end yields in a perfect season, but it will stop you biting the bullet when it's terrible, that's where my thought process was," Mr Michael said.

"Everyone has good and bad seasons, but really good producers don't have really bad seasons, they somehow manage to do alright even when it's dry."

Mr Michael has also adjusted his fertiliser regime this year, with Granulock Z fertiliser applied at 60kg/ha at seeding, down from 100kg/ha last year.

"I didn't have the yields last year, so the crop didn't take up much of the fertiliser from the soil, so I dropped the rate for this year," he said.

On the cereal crops, Granulock Z is applied at seeding along with 50kg/ha of urea, with urea then top dressed in early June.

Canola and lentils only received Granulock Z at seeding, with the first nitrogen application in the form of urea in early June, and UAN early last week.

Mr Michael used a seeder for top dressing canola in June, and borrowed his neighbour's spreader to top dress the remainder.

"At the time, the canola crop was only as big as a 50-cent piece, and it was blowing a gale, but with the seeder I was actually getting a really accurate job," he said.

After nearly not sowing canola this year due to a dry start, Mr Michael is pleased with how the crop is looking.

"I was nearly going to plant canola hectares to wheat, but that would make my 2022 rotation more difficult, because I generally like to grow wheat on a break crop of lentils or canola," he said.

"The canola is looking terrific now though."

IN THE coming years, Barunga Gap mixed farmer Tom Michael is looking to turn more of his native pastures into cropping land, aiming for a roughly 50:50 split.

"I rock-picked about 110 hectares of pastures last year - we picked thousands of tonnes of rocks from January to May 2020 and opened that country right up," he said.

"We have flatter ground that hasn't been rock-picked, I'm interesting in digging another 20-30ha out to increase the productivity of that area, too."

Alongside an improved cropping area, Mr Michael is aiming to increase the productivity of his pastures.

"Last year, there were a few times where there was a canola crop up to the top of the fence, and pasture up to your boots, so I thought surely it would be possible to fire the pasture up a bit, which will help me improve feed value and increase sheep numbers," he said.

Mr Michael is hoping to increase sheep numbers up from 500 Merino ewes, to 1000.

With a lot of his pastures being on very hilly country, Mr Michael used a plane to spread 170ha of native grass pastures with Granulock fertiliser leftover from seeding time, and Balansa clover seed, in May. He is hopeful of seeing an improvement in spring.

"The competition to buy or rent land is fierce, so I'm really focused on making the most of what I already have and running it in a really productive and efficient way," he said.