Seeder a 'game changer' for Halbury operation

Based in Halbury, the Simon family's combined 1800 hectare properties are home to wheat, barley, beans, canola and lentils sown into a variety of soils.

With soil types including sand, sand over clay, loam, red loam and black clay, vastly different approaches have to be taken to get the crop in at each paddock every year.

Luke Simon, Talksim, said using a disc seeder for the task meant he had been unable to get out into the paddocks he wanted to, when he wanted to, often causing seeding delays.

In 2019, the family looked to new technology to tackle the issue, deciding to invest in a 50-foot Boss Bridge frame planter, combined with TX45 openers on 23 centimetre spacings and a Simplicity 9000 tow-behind air cart.

Now in use for three seasons, Mr Simon said the new seeder was one of the best decisions made for the operation.

"It gave us the ability to seed when we want to seed, instead of waiting for the right moisture levels," he said.

"In a wet season with a disc seeder, it is really hard to get seeding early in the day and keep going into the dark - you just can't do it.

"Once the moisture came up it made things really tricky, but with this machine, if the moisture comes up you can still be on the clock."

Not only was it difficult to find the sweet spot to get into the paddock, Mr Simon said not all crops were getting established using the previous disc seeder.

He said since changing to the air seeder, that issue was almost obsolete.

"Pretty much everything we've sown since has gotten up," he said. "Crop establishment is so important, and the new seeder has been a real game changer there."

With a few major changes made to the operation in recent years, Mr Simon said he believed they had found what worked for them.

"We know what's simple and what works best for us so we're sticking to that for now," he said.

"It's about finding what's right for you but making sure not to complicate things in the process and we've done that so far - but there's always room to improve with new technology."

Seeding for 2022 has come to a close for most properties across the state, with the Simon family no exception.

Although minimal rainfall meant the entire crop went in dry, Mr Simon said things had gotten away nicely this year.

"We finished around May 24 and everything has come out of the ground well and is getting up, despite the dry start," he said. "We've been really lucky to have some good rain since seeding, which has really helped.

"The season now looks like it's going to be a good one.

"We've had some good rain over the past couple of weeks and it wants to keep raining I think.

"We'd love a couple of dry days to get some spraying done, we certainly won't complain about the rain we're getting though."

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A new seeder is not the only change the Simon family has made in recent years, making the move into lentils last growing season for a point of difference.

Traditionally growing cereals, beans and field peas, Mr Simon said he took a chance last year and sowed lentils, throwing out field peas all together.

"We decided to jump into lentils instead of field peas and we're pretty happy with the decision," he said.

"It's something a bit different but it's not too much of a learning curve for us.

"They're relatively easy to grow and you don't have to really do a whole lot to get them off the ground."

After one season, Mr Simon said the move was a successful one for the operation, sowing lentils again this year.

"Last year we only had to clean around 40 tonne of them, which just had a couple of weeds," he said.

"Other than that they were pretty simple and grew really well."

He said they had "stuck to the same plan" this year and were hopeful of another good result and strong yield.

"We're still a bit nervous to expand further into lentils, but we might look to seed more in the future, depending on how they go the next season or so," he said.

"There's always room to diversify and change things up and we're keen to take the chances when we can.

"We don't want to throw too many curveballs into the mix but we're excited to see how they go in future years."