Technical Bulletin – 25 July 2018

• Sowing is continuing with growers 60 per cent (Wimmera)—100 per cent (Mallee) through their program.
• Crops are needing moisture. Earlier sown crops into moisture growing well later sown crops are still trying to establish.
• Supplementary feeding sheep is ongoing while we wait for crops to be ready to graze.
• Slug management in some areas is ongoing, good results from high rates (20kg/ha) but justifying the economics in these more variable risk areas is difficult.
• Some are considering N decisions in canola and hay oats where crops were sown early.
• Knockdown opportunities have been good.

In the northern Mallee, reports of Etiella and Heliothis may create more activity in the coming days and weeks. For the southern Mallee, most growers are looking for more rain to protect yield potential, and late fungicide sprays have gone out on wheat.

In the Wimmera (North, Central and West) soil moisture levels are good (explained later in this bulletin) and there are isolated reports of armyworm activity that warrant some monitoring, particularly in cereal on cereal rotations.

Some action points from recent BCG events: leave the fenceline and get out into your crops to assess for potential frost or heat stress damage, adjust your header set up ready for the coming months, succession planning is an ongoing process and farming is about decision making and we can only influence the quality of our decision making by acting more consciously on the best available knowledge.