5.2 tonne/ha barley crop

Entered by Gavin and Jim Hombsch, Hyland, Bithramere, the winning crop scored 160 points. It was only separated from the second-placed entry from Tom and Julie Chaffey, Wyoming, Somerton, by a solitary point.

The competition judge was the NSW Department of Primary Industries' Loretta Serafin, who saddled up for her 18th year on the clipboard.

Ms Serafin said the crops grown in the Ag Bureau's area had changed from a winter cereal selection of either wheat or barley with a break crop of lucerne pasture.

She said canola was a burgeoning choice as a break crop, and some farmers were considering winter legumes, but this was not a widespread option.

Gavin Hombsch said the winning entry was sown at 50 kilograms per hectare and into a seedbed prepared by minimum till techniques.

Before planting the barley crop, the paddock had two oat crops in a row, and next year, Mr Hombsch has plans to grow lucerne without a cover crop.

The crop was planted with 26-centimetre (10.5 inch) spacings and had 100kg of urea applied pre-planting and then 70kg of MAP with zinc at sowing. The paddock also had five tonnes/ha of chicken manure used.

Mr Hombsch also applied an in-crop spray of Intervix to control weed encroachment, which showed up in the weed control points score with 23 out of 25 points. No insecticide sprays were used.

Tom and Julie Chaffey's crop of Maximus on their property Wyoming scored 159 points and was sown in late May at a rate of 50/kg/ha. They used a Seedhawk planter under no-till conditions with 25cm (10 inch) spacings and applied 300kg of Sulphate of Ammonia. Mr Chaffey applied 600mls of Axial Xtra as an in-crop herbicide. The crop is estimated to yield 4.7t/ha and scored 15 points per estimated tonne, with 72.

This crop had been preceded by winter wheat in 2021, and plans for next year's crop on that paddock could include canola onto a long-fallow for sorghum or canola followed by Durum wheat.

Both the Hombsch and Chaffey crops were grown on red soil country, and Ms Serafin said the Duri-district red soils ensured the impact of the wet growing season was lessened by its ability to drain more quickly than the district's black soils.

Third place went to the Burke family's Glenwarrie Partnership at Winton with a crop of Spartacus CL that scored 157 points. Sown at 50kg/ha, Chris Burke used an Ag Boss planter with press wheels and 33cm (13-inch) spacings. Pre-sowing, 60kg/ha of Big N was applied, and then at sowing, 55kg of N and 46kg of MAP/ha were used. An in-crop application of Intervix ensured the crop scored 22 out of 25 points for weed control. The Glenwarrie barley was estimated to yield 4.4t/ha.

In the previous two years, the barley paddock on Glenwarrie had wheat crops, and plans for the next crop included either sorghum or canola.

Duri AG Bureau's wheat crop competition will be judged on November 9, and at this stage, 10 crops have been entered.