On Thursday 8 October farmers and advisors came to BCG’s Wimmera Research Field Day to discuss with industry specialists the key issues affecting the region. The site, on the Patton property at Gooroc, hosted a range of trials including alternate nutrition, wheat on wheat, IMI-tolerant Juncea, annual pastures and herbicide tolerant cereals.

Dr Kate Burke, who braved the crowd by defiantly and proudly wearing her St. Kilda footy gear, talked with farmers about the on-going issue of ryegrass in the area and its possible control with row spacing. The trial demonstrated that while herbicide treatments brought down ryegrass numbers, row spacings did not.

The wheat varieties trial presented by Dr Russell Eastwood was well received by farmers who had many questions about yield, disease ratings and maturity. Russell, who has years of experience breeding wheat in Victoria commented: “It was great to see so many farmers considering disease susceptibility when choosing varieties as it is important to keep yield penalising diseases such as stripe rust and CCN at bay.”

The day concluded with a hay discussion session led by the Executive Officer of the Australian Fodder Industry Association, Colin Peace. Colin spoke with farmers about the quality of hay from various crop species and varieties as well as current hay and silage demand for local and export markets. With less drought stressed crops this year, a big talking point was whether it would be more economical to cut bumper crops for hay rather than harvesting and waiting for grain prices to rise.

For more information contact the BCG office on (03) 5492 2787.

                    
Dr Kate Burke presenting at the barley agronomy -                   The crowd on the day.
row spacing competition with ryegrass trial.