Whilst the festive season is upon us, my rainfall predicting is not going so well. I thought it might be a better idea to recite Paul Macca’s twelve days of farming creed.
My First Day of Farming is ensuring an adequate soil surface to absorb any rainfall event. By this, I mean heavy summer rainstorms need either lots of standing stubble or a very rough, cloddy soil surface to allow water infiltration for a full profile of at least 120mm of stored moisture prior to any planting.
My Second Day of Farming highlights the benefits of a current soil test at profile depths of 0 to 15cm, 15 cm to 40cm, and then 40cm to 80/90cm (approx.) for these deepish clay soils we have in the Northern Region.
My Third Day of Farming is ensuring that this profile soil test measures at least available Nitrate Nitrogen, Phosphorus Colwell, and available Potassium, plus Sodium per cent of Cations, Chlorides, pH, and it wouldn’t hurt to know about Sulphur and Zinc as well.
My Fourth Day of Farming advises making sure the planter is in good condition and can plant into this paddock without any more mechanical operations on it.
My Fifth Day of Farming asks whether I need to consider a pre-plant application of fertiliser in a band or a zonal method of application, based on my most recent soil test.
My Sixth Day of Farming involves assessing my current and impending weed burden and spectrum, and applying a herbicide combination that will completely control any emerged weeds with my preferred Optical Spot Sprayer.
My Seventh Day of Farming suggests I need to check my seed quality in terms of germination and vigour. How old is this line or cohort of seed, and how many seasons has it been planted?
My Eighth Day of Farming advises going forth and planting at the appropriate seeding depth with good quality seed into a friable soil structure, capable of providing good seed-to-moist soil contact.
My Ninth Day of Farming states that if planting a legume, make absolutely sure to inoculate the seed properly in a cool and shady place before getting the seed and live Rhizobia bacteria into the soil. The water injection method or Mort and Co compost granules infused with R. bacteria are other great ways of ensuring successful inoculation at planting time for your legume or pulse crop.
My Tenth Day of Farming is about ensuring your residual in-crop weed control options are applied correctly, both in terms of timing and the correct rate for the grams of active ingredient listed on the container. It also suggests ensuring that an agreed-upon weed control program has been mapped out with your agronomist, avoiding the increasing folds of herbicide resistance.
My Eleventh Day of Farming says to scout or monitor weekly during vegetative stages and probably twice per week during reproductive stages of your crop, by your agronomist and/or you, the farm owner or manager.
My Twelfth Day of Farming says to obey all pesticide regulations and withholding periods prior to any harvest period. Particularly necessary is to include in your Helicoverpa insecticide spraying program the inclusion of our great biological NPV product, Vivus Max, to ward off increasing levels of insecticide resistance.
My Final Day (for this summer anyhow) of Farming says to sell the grain (or fibre) carefully and deliver the agreed-upon quality, before filling out the Grower Declaration form truthfully at the receival depot or packing shed grain bridge.
Merry Christmas and a happy, wet New Year to everybody from Paul “Macca” McIntosh.
