Zero till investment pays off at Bongeen

Upgrading from minimum till to zero till farming systems two years ago has sured up Darling Downs farmers Craig and Jenny Ruhle's ability to produce crops regardless of seasonal conditions.

Farming 631 hectares of soft eastern downs self-mulching soil at Norillee, Bongeen has certain advantages but does not guarantee success.

Now, armed with a nine-metre Excel Stubble Warrior zero till planter fitted with VT-110 row units and pulled by an MT 755 Cat Challenger, the Ruhles say a dry season no longer fazes them.

"You have to grow crops - that's the name of the game. Our country's pretty good here and we should be able to produce crops every year even though we've been running on about half our normal rainfall for about 15 years," Mr Ruhle said.

Mr Ruhle watched the success of other farmers and family members before making the switch to zero till because of the attention to detail involved in getting the system right and the expense.

It is a decision that is already paying dividends compared to traditional farming.

"I planted all the winter crop I had last year a bit deeper using the Stubble Warrior, probably six inches deep and that resulted in a crop which no-one else around me had," Mr Ruhle said.

"We didn't have much rain apart from falls in early May about six weeks before I planted and a lot of the traditionally-farmed country in the district wasn't wet enough on top.

"The zero till system allows me to plant on a lot less rain and when I want to, more or less. I feel it gives us more control over seasonal conditions because you need a lot less rain to wet the zero till country and it stays wetter".

"That compensates for the amount of money you need to outlay to get into zero till."

Despite a discouraging price dip for wheat, the Ruhles were pleased with last year's prime hard/AH-grade wheat crop that went about 3t/ha, especially since it was sown on the previous year's wheat ground.

"That was pretty good on no rain and we had chick peas too. We are able to retain moisture by not ploughing and the tram-tracking helps too because you're not planting your wheel marks."

In early March, just a week off harvesting his sorghum, Craig was making plans for a winter planting of Binnalong barley into chick pea and mung bean ground and Jimbour chick pea into sorghum stubble.

"We've had a bit of a dry run through here but the sorghum on the fallow is looking pretty good and I hope it does six or seven tonnes per hectare but it might do better than that.

"The flexibility of the Stubble Warrior allowed me to plant half the sorghum with a tine as the soil was starting to dry out."

Mr Ruhle has had Excel gear for about five years and uses the Stubble Warrior to plant all crops. The planter first appealed to him because it had a tine/disc option.

"It's got a good scraper set up on it and I use the discs mostly in the wet but if it's turned dry I put the tines on. The only thing about that is that you have to back the pace off a bit.

"The weather makes you worry about getting a good strike because sometimes you don't have another shot at it, the first go is the only go you get so the Stubble Warrior helps us get it right."

He found Excel more than willing to customise the Stubble Warrior to meet his needs and added double press wheels to improve seed to soil contact.

The excellent moisture seeking ability and uniform seed placement of the Excel Stubble Warrior disc openers and tines on one parallelogram make the unit attractive to farmers Australia-wide, according to Excel Agriculture sales manager, Brian Moran.

Excel's sales and service professionals are well respected for their ability to set machines for germination on any soil type where subsoil moisture is present and have earned the trust of clients across eastern Australia.

Excel takes the time to individually set the planter's tine or disc planting depth, press wheel pressure and parallelogram down force pressure based on farmers' requirements.

Mr Moran said Excel offers disc and/or tine options on the Stubble Warrior and flexibility in fertiliser, press wheel and seeding configurations.

"The VT-110 model which Craig has, can adapt to changing planting conditions and moisture profiles by engaging either the disc opener or the tine for maximum results," Mr Moran said.

"Our engineers have designed a unique disc opener which can handle large amounts of stubble and the Stubble Warrior can go to seven inches deep with minimal surface disturbance."

Excel implements can be seen at major field days and on farm demonstrations and the company welcomes tours of its impressive Toowoomba factory.