Cold season in Australia means the susceptibility of paddocks to encounter frost events increases. While frost potential in the southern half of the country and in Tasmania can extend to cover over 150 days per year according to some government models , the reality of frost events is more nuanced than a simple map’s predictions.

Frost events are highly localised and vary dramatically. While temperature is a factor, frost is also dependent upon topography, with low-lying areas called frost pockets or frost hollows being more prone to frost events. The likelihood of frost is also based upon non-temperature-related factors like cloud cover, humidity and surface winds. Clear skies, high humidity and still winds are the perfect conditions for a frost event, but vary even one of those factors and even low-lying areas could avoid frosts. The resultant frost damage has long-term implications, particularly for yields on wheat and cereal crops during the next growing season.

Since managing ambient environmental factors is outside of the control of farmers and crop producers, avoiding frost damage to paddocks is usually limited to mechanical means – tarps, sprinkler systems, and other interventions – and even those are difficult to enact over large areas. But government and university research suggests that stubble management can have far-reaching impacts for plant growth and crop yields in growing seasons to come.

Heavy stubbles, especially stubbles from pulses with excess vegetation like those from the 2020 growing season, can have an adverse reaction on the ground’s ability to fight off frost events via ambient ground and moisture controls, even into subsequent growing seasons. Soil serves as “heat sink” or “heat bank,” absorbing radiant heat – or longwave solar radiation, in scientific terms – from the sun and moderating to air temperatures during the day and releasing that latent heat during the evening/non-sun hours. This rising warm air forms an important barrier between surface crops and the cooler air descending from the atmosphere.

Thick, heavy stubble impedes the soil’s ability to absorb radiant and ambient heat. Since stubbles are “dead” carbon (as opposed to soil’s “living” environment of microorganisms) sitting on top of the soil profile rather than integrated into it, they act as shade, blocking sun, reducing the amount of heat the soil can absorb, and trapping too much moisture due to lack of evaporation. In the hot months, moisture evaporation can be a concern, but during cooler months with frost potential, trapped moisture and cooler air create greater potential for issues. The cooler temps exacerbated by high-stubble paddocks mean slower development of plant biomass, delayed flowering, slower or reduced tillering, and less well-developed heads.

Managing frost potential with past-season stubbles is largely a matter of re-sizing and integrating the stubbles into the soil as residues with mechanical interventions like the K-Line Ag Trashcutter^® or the multi-tillage and integration tool, Speedtiller^®. Doing so allows the stubbles-turned-residues to provide “best of both worlds” benefits – better soil quality and erosion control due to the presence of organic matter, and better heat sinking and moisture evaporation qualities due to more exposed soil.

While environmental factors like frost are an unavoidable aspect of topography and the vagaries and capriciousness of weather, managing stubble loads can make a frost event less impactful for future yields.

There’s an old adage that says, “make hay while the sun shines,” but for forage producers in many Australian farming regions, the challenge isn’t the sun – it’s the rainfall. Now that most areas of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia have seen above average rainfall after years of drought, the decision is how best to harvest and process the abundance of hay that this year’s conditions have provided.

To Dry Or Not To Dry

For most producers, the first question is whether their unique storage, usage and logistical requirements necessitate drying their hay or ensiling (or fermenting) pastures to make silage. Dry hay production usually utilises hay storage buildings or sheds, with hay processed into bales of various sizes and shapes. The type of processed bale is dependent upon the usage – is the bale being rolled out in a paddock? Fed in a feeder? – and the way fodder is handled – does it need to be trucked from the storage location to the feeding location? – is a determining factor when deciding whether drying or ensiling is a better fit. Bale type and sizing also determine the optimal moisture content of the hay, with large square bales requiring lower moisture contents than small squares or round bales .

Dry hay’s end quality depends not only on the quality of the pastures grown, but also on the handling of the cut pastures within the paddock. Getting a proper moisture percentage – usually around 12-13% – keeps the hay from fermenting (the process it goes through when it’s ensiled), while also allowing the stems, leaves and flowers of the plant to remain moist enough to not break down during processing.

While dry hay can be used for any number of pasture animals and ruminants, from sheep and goats to horses and cows, it is usually less desirable for dairy animals due to nutrient content. However, dry hay’s easier digestibility means it is a sought-after feed type for horses. A producer interested in selling their fodders on the local feed market, rather than retaining them for their own usage, should research their local market and the types of buyers – dairy farms, cattle ranches, boarding stables – who purchase in their area. Exporters planning to move hay to Asian or Middle Eastern markets should look to both the end markets’ livestock (beef and dairy cattle, along with some high performance racehorse markets) as well as export requirements for quality assurance and grading .

Ensiling can be done in upright or bunker-style silos, or within plastic wrapped bales of various shapes and sizes. Like with dry hay, the shape and size of the bales is determined by usage and logistics. Ensiling pasture fodders is usually a long-term commitment, since both bunker silos and upright storage silos require investments in unloaders, machines, concrete and other storage and handling materials.

Pastures meant for ensiling are better when taken earlier and processed wetter. Recommendations for silage processing of fodder recommend cutting when the pasture is at no more than 20% headed and processing at around 30% dry matter . This production methodology, as well as the storage in silos, bunkers, or wrapped bales, means that the organic matter in the fodder ferments anaerobically (without air) as opposed to simply rotting or decaying. This helps retain nutrients from the plants, producing a long-lasting, high quality feed.

It All Starts In The Field

Regardless of the fodder conservation practice a producer chooses, all quality hay or silage production starts in the field. Pasture vegetative components vary by the animal consuming the feed. General use pasture can contain a good mixture of nutritive legumes, like lucerne and clover; grains, like oats and barley; and mass vegetation, like ryegrasses and other perennial grasses. Export hay crops tend to be oaten hay or lucerne, depending on the end market, as these crops are more durable for the containerization and export processes. Dairy mixes, for both goats and cows, tend to be mixed more heavily on the oat and legume side to produce higher-component, protein- and nutrient-rich milks and support the higher caloric needs of milking animals.

Once the mix is seeded and growing, the timing of fodder conservation process becomes critical . While growing requires rainfall or irrigation, mowing and wilting (also called curing) require a period of dryness – specifically a wilting period of at least 48-72 hours following mowing. While most producers use a mower-conditioner with either a roller head or a flail head to fracture the plant stems and speed up evaporative drying, some on-the-ground wilting time is necessary to reach an adequate moisture content, particularly for dry hay in either local or export use.

Hay rakes, like the Delta series rakes from K-Line , help producers manage mowed hay for both moisture control and processing needs. The rake can gently move wilting vegetation to better allow airflow amongst stems and leaves, while also positioning windrows together to speed up baling or silage chopping processes. Rakes like the K-Line Ag Delta series are designed to move vegetation with care, even at high ground speeds, in order to preserve nutrient-rich leaves and seed heads.

Modern baling and chopping equipment, particularly large square and round balers, work more efficiently with larger windrows. This means that raking together windrows improves not only the drying or wilting time of your hay crop, it can actually prevent processing problems.

Once baling or chopping is completed, storage processes are determined by the logistical factor mentioned previously, as well as the long- and short-term needs of the end-user facility. For dry hay facilities, hay can be shedded and tarped for longer-term storage, containerized and exported for market, or stacked for shorter-term usage. For chopped silage, packing into bunkers for later extraction with a telehandler or front end loader is most common, while upright silos require chopper boxes and blowers to transport processed feed from the field to the storage facility and up into the silo.

For wrapped sileage bales, some producers choose continuous wrapping, leaving caterpillar-like lines of bales across paddocks, while others opt for single bale wrapping and the traditional stack-and-shed model seen in dry hay.

Whatever the appropriate fodder production and storage approach for the farm, the producer and the market, K-Line Ag hay rakes help ensure the ideal conditions for drying and processing your hay crop.

Successful dairying involves taking interest in, and managing for, the little things that produce big impact. Milk prices are based on the percentages of nutritional components found within the milk itself, so when milkfat and protein component percentages are high, milk checks are high as well. Building fodders to optimise both overall production and component percentages is a major part of production management for dairy producers.

Because of the direct correlation between feed quality and production numbers^[1], dairy producers who want to optimise for milk quality have to start at the source – the feed their cattle eat. And since fodders begin as crops, that means optimizing conditions in much the same manner as crop farmers – looking at seedbed preparation, germination, moisture retention and other production issues.

Lucerne is an important fodder base for dairy cattle rations due to its ability to pass through protein and other nutrients, as well as its ability to store well in ensiled conditions. As a perennial pasture legume, lucerne produces and sequesters protein in its leaves and stems. Dairy cattle need high levels of protein for milk production, so a ration that is high in accessible, digestible protein helps increase production while also increasing the nutrient components of the finished milk product.

Throughout Australia, irrigation viability and moisture availability for a good crop of lucerne are issues, which makes adequate soil prep and retention of surface residues key to providing a positive, conducive growing environment. For perennial crops like lucerne, which are harvested multiple times per growing season, it can be the difference between a mediocre crop and a great crop. To ensure quality growth and the volume of production tonnage needed for dairy cattle rations, lucerne growth and harvest should be managed from the beginning – as soon as the soil they grow in is prepped for seeding.

Because of lucerne’s tiny seed size and the application rates per acre, a finely-finished seedbed prep can make all the difference in germination rates. With rougher finishes, soil-to-seed-contact can suffer and germination rates can decrease, dragging down the eventual yield before the first plant even begins to grow.

A dual tillage/finishing tool like the Speedtiller^® performs tillage suitable for sizing and integrating any residual surface trash, but also smooths the soil surface to maximise the contact between seeds and soil for germination. Smoother soil also translates into faster, easier harvesting. Machines can run more quickly over smoother soils and can avoid maintenance issues rougher surfaces can produce. Since lucerne is harvested several times in a growing season, a smooth seedbed preparation pays dividends multiple times.

When a paddock starts with a well-prepared seedbed, it changes not only the germination process of the seed itself, but the ability of the farmer to influence efficiencies in the dairy operation, the herd’s production, and the crop’s tonnage. Little changes that create major impact help dairy farmers build a base for their dairy fodders and a better, stronger bottom line.

Colin Thompson of Silvermere Holsteins, shares his story in the video below.

[1]

Unlike in other states, grain growers across the wheatbelt of WA have been faced with another dry start to their cropping season. The August Rabobank Australia Monthly update shows that both Geraldton and Esperance have had rainfall lower than the same 3 month period (May to July) in both 2018 and 2019^[1].

However, in August, Geraldton had a fall of nearly 25mm on 9 August and Esperance have had nearly 80mm to date in August. While this has improved the soil moisture profile and will help crops along into Spring, the Relative root zone soil moisture^[2] across the region still remains below average. Shown below.

So How Is This Affecting Farming Decisions?

While the crops are in and growing, farmers are mulling over their management plan for next season and what they can do to further improve productivity, efficiencies, and soil health to optimise every drop of rain they receive next season.

Bill Larsen, the Director of Sales & Marketing at K-Line Ag has been talking with farmers across the region. “The dry seasonal conditions in WA have meant farmers are even more determined to re-evaluate their soil improvement techniques. They are progressive and always considering new management practises and methods that will help improve yields.”

The K-Line Ag range has become very popular across the WA Wheatbelt. They are Australian made and continually evolving to meet the demands of the various soil types and farming industries. The machines of particularly high interest to WA grain growers are the new large Speedtiller Powerflex^® models, Rippers and the Wheel Track Renovators.

‘One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to soil improvements. We’ve had growing interest from farmers wanting both a MaxxRipper^® and a Speedtiller Powerflex^®. These farmers tend to have non-wetting soils, a light sandy soil on top with clay deep down in the profile. They are experiencing good results in soil structure and production levels, by first ripping and then cross passing with a Powerflex. The Powerflex leaves the clay nicely incorporated through the top 10cm of soil, rather than in big clay clods, thereby improving both soil structure, water retention and crop yields.

The large Powerflex® models weigh between 7.5 tonnes and 22.5 tonnes and have between 50 and 125 discs operating at any one time. The newest addition to the range of K-Line machines is the 15.5m Mammoth Powerflex. This model is particularly well suited to the large scale farming operations of the WA grain growing regions.

Not often can you buy the one machine that serves so many purposes. The Speedtiller Powerflex^® by K-Line Ag is your answer to chemical resistant weeds, residue management and incorporation, soil structure improvement and seedbed preparation.

Above: Neil Streat, Salesperson at Codemo Machinery standing in front of a 15.5m Speedtiller Powerflex^®

The other tool of choice that is seeing great results across the region is the K-Line Ag Trackattack^®. Popular among controlled traffic farmers who have started to notice compaction and rutting along wheel tracks in cropping paddocks.

K-Line Ag has developed the answer to these tram-line maintenance issues, with the Trackattack^® – a simple but effective unit designed to level wheel tracks. It leaves the track smooth when working in trash, kills any weeds growing on the track edges, and leaves an even, level tramline, which is important to ensure GPS equipment maintains consistency.

K-Line Ag continues to drive ahead with innovation in farm tillage machinery by listening to and acting on the needs and challenges faced by Australian farmers. “When producers are faced with new challenges and pain points we like to work along side them to develop the tillage and seeding machines that meet their requirements.” said Bill.

If you have any questions about the K-Line machinery range or would like to discuss it’s application on your property, CALL K-LINE ON 1800 194 131 or visit your local K-Line Dealer