FARMERS left their tractors behind for a day to take part in Southern Farming Systems’ (SFS) Streatham paddock walk last Thursday.
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Eager local growers jumped at the chance to inspect three different farming systems throughout the region, which included SFS’ Streatham Mininera Canola Concept Trial Site, Doug Laidlaw’s Semeato seeder at Tatyoon and Scott Blurton’s air seeder set up for liquid injection at his Streatham property.
Click the image below to view our full gallery from the event.
Streatham SFS branch coordinator Una Allender said the day was a great success, with more than 40 people in attendance across the day.
“The real beauty of a paddock walk is farmers can get off their tractors for a while, get some new ideas and see what other people are doing. Everyone really enjoys it,” she said.
The first stop was the Mininera canola concept trial site, where stubble had been slashed in February using a K-Line trashcutter to cut the straw and then spread it consistently over the surface.
The site had been divided into strips running north and south, with a range of stubble management methods carried out. These encompassed burning and cultivation with a Vaderstad TopDown machine.
A canola crop was sown in early May using techniques including knife point and press wheel (Vaderstad Seedhawk), disc seeder (Vaderstad Rapid) and broadcast and rolled (Vaderstad Carrier with Biodrill).
Ms Allender said although it was too early to discuss the outcomes of the trial, farmers were able to see the differences between the plots.
“There were large variations across the paddock,” she said.
Growers discussed pests and disease, stubble handling, effects of cultivation, sowing depth and paddock history.
The paddock walk continued at Doug Laidlaw’s Tatyoon property, where farmers examined his new Semeato no-till double disc seeder, which has been adapted to uneven and rocky ground and is able to successfully handle heavy stubbles.
The walk finished at Scott Blurton’s Streatham property, where the producer talked about the benefits of his John Deere air seeder, which had been set up for liquid fertiliser injection.
