Snapshot

Grower: Stuart Robinson
Property: Titanga
Location: Lismore, SW Victoria
Farm size: 2640 hectares (ha)
Winter cropping area: 700ha
Summer cropping area: 150ha
Percentage under no-till cropping: 100 per cent
Enterprises: Cropping and wool merino operation
Crop types: Wheat, barley, canola, faba beans, broad beans
Rainfall zone: High rainfall zone
Average growing season rainfall: 550mm
Soil types: Light gravels and basalt clays
Seeding equipment: 8m (26-foot) Horwood Bagshaw Scaribar 350 with 30cm (12-inch) spacing, Knuckey knifepoint and press wheel system, Knuckey coulters on the front and Horwood Bagshaw 400L Air Cart.

Since starting as farm manager at Titanga nine years ago, Stuart Robinson has been impressed with the current seeding equipment. While yearly maintenance has started to increase on the 2006 model, the simplicity of the machine is working well in their current system.

Addition of coulters

One change Stuart has made to the seeder was the addition of coulters about five years ago to aid with seeding through retained stubbles. As they try to move away from burning, they built their own toolbar and put Knuckey coulters across the front.

“The coulters just chop through the trash sitting on the surface and clear the way for the tyne to break through without dragging, which has certainly helped with sowing into big stubbles,” Stuart says.

“One limitation the seeder still has is the coulters are not as effective when stubbles are wet, which can be a challenge in the high rainfall zone of the western districts.

“Its limitations that affect crop establishment is how much trash we can get through it. If we have stubble that’s 300mm and the trash has been well spread, we don’t have too many issues with dry sowing. But the moment we start getting some moisture, even at 30cm (12-inches) we can get issues.”

Stuart says he spends a lot of time around sowing watching the weather forecasts and when a rainfall event is predicted, they will try and dry sow before the rain arrives.

One change Stuart has made to the seeder was the addition of coulters about five years ago to aid with seeding through retained stubbles. As they try to move away from burning, they built their own toolbar and put Knuckey coulters across the front. Image: Asheley Amourgis

Crop establishment for weed control

Stuart ranks good crop establishment as the number one factor in the success of cropping on his farm, with increased weed control at the front of mind.

“We are looking for that rapid, early establishment and trying to get crops to shade over as quickly as possible to keep the ryegrass at bay ” Stuart says.

Producing a good, thick canopythas been an effective early season weed control method.

Changing setup for faba beans

Using plant density for weed control, particularly in his bean crops, has meant Stuart sows his faba beans at 18-20 plants/m2.

Planting  faba beans at these sowing rates  can present some challenges with the seeding equipment and tubes getting blocked. To combat this, Stuart says he swaps his seed and fertiliser around.

“We put the beans down the fertiliser shoot, which is the shoot on the tyne and we put the fertiliser down the seed tube which is on the press wheel that runs behind the tyne. We put the beans down that shoot because it’s a much larger shoot and we don’t get blockages,” he says.

This simple alteration allows Stuart to achieve high sowing rates and provides another tool for managing early season weed control in the bean rotation, which is particularly important in his high rainfall zone environment.

Seeder operation and set up

Stuart says he places a lot of emphasis on ensuring things like the seeder setup and operation are correct, as they’re parts of farming you can have some control over. Stuart considers these two factors as the paramount to success during sowing at Titanga.

Stuart says he spends much of his time during sowing out in the paddocks with his operators, working with them to optimise the sowing operation by regularly checking sowing speeds and seed depth.

“I find the seeder performs best at around seven kilometres per hour, but we  do drop back to around 4km/hr when sowing faba beans,” he says.

“I am a bit fussy about the speed. It is a spring release machine and it’s not hydraulicly controlled, so if we do operate at a speed that is too high, much above 7km/hr, we start to get push back on the tynes.”

Stuart says he also spends a lot of his time at sowing out in the paddock with his operators, worthing with them to regularly check the seed depth.

“I’m someone that checks the depth of seed while we’re seeding,” he says.

“We do adjust depth depending on the soil conditions. If we have rain during seeding, then I will be out there watching things pretty closely, as we’ll usually drop the seed in a bit deeper after a rain event.”

“We have this system where the seeding depth is determined by the press wheels, but after rain, especially if we have gone too early, the press wheels will build up a bit, which can be a bit of a problem. So that’s a good indicator to back off and wait for it to dry out a bit.”

Controller system

The controller system is a Horwood Bagshaw mechanical metering system and Stuart said it is a far simpler system than what is available on the newer models. One thing he does consider important in the tractor cab however are cameras.

“We’ve got in box cameras and cameras on the delivery shaft. That way because it is a mechanical system, we can be confident the operator should know if something breaks and the seed stops going out,” he says.

Plans for near future

Although it does have some limitations, overall, Stuart said he is incredibly happy with the seeder performance and has no plans for additional modifications or an upgrade soon.

“Its basic, its simple and pretty low maintenance and seems to work well. That’s why it's 15 years old I suppose.”

Top tips

Stuart's top three plant establishment tips, include:

• Get depth right and check regularly
• Weed control
• Seeder operation – monitor closely.

More information: Stuart Robinson, 0407 319 196, robinson-caruso@bigpond.com.au