Wet Harvest
It’s no secret that it’s been wet. Wetter than usual, certainly for summertime. These high moisture and high humidity conditions have meant many growers have their headers parked up in the shed rather than out harvesting. South-West Victoria has only received roughly 2-3 weeks of harvestable weather despite starting two weeks earlier than usual, which was around mid-November. Not only do these conditions mean no harvesting, but it can impact grain in both harvestability and quality.
If you have an thoughts or experiences to share on this years harvest add it in the comments.
Here are some resources to help manage the unmanageable:
Decision Making
As the weather continues to dominate decisions, using a decision matrix can help to think through the critical factors of which crop to harvest next or the considerations around using a grain dryer to harvest at higher moisture and then dry grain down. You can access the Decision Wizard at https://sfs.org.au/tool/decision-wizard
Grain Storage
Dealing with High Moisture Grain
Aeration cooling can help save moist grain
GRDC Grains Research Update, online – Storing rain affected grain in a wet harvest
Topics & speakers:
- Falling numbers in rain affected cereals (Felicity Harris, CSU)
- Strategies for storing grain (Chris Warrick, Primary Business & Philip Burrill, QDAF)
- Aeration cooling – what can it offer for short term storage for over moisture grain and what are the risks? Storage design, monitoring and risk mitigation
- The logistics and risks of blending wet and dry grain
- Managing risk to avoid disasters in temporary storage bags, bunkers and sheds
- Discussion Q&A (Chris Warrick, Philip Burrill, Felicity Harris & Alex Conway)
GRDC Research Update Online – Keeping rain affected grain for seed
Topics & Speakers:
- Issues for farmer retained canola seed (Col McMaster, NSW DPI)
- Issues for rain affected farmer retained cereal seed (Greg Rebetzke, CSIRO)
- Testing for germination, vigour and falling number – what the tests tell you and what they don’t (Leah Petrie, Futari)
- Making business decisions about keeping grain for seed (Angus Woods, Woods Grain)
More resources on Bogged Machinery and other learnings from 2022 …
