Making Hay While the Sun Shines - or Not
| After saving $20,000 by deciding not to cut his crop for hay despite the drought, Bill Long is more convinced than ever of the benefits of Yield Prophet®. Bill has used Yield Prophet® for the last two years on his farm at Adrossan on the north coast of South Australia's Yorke Peninsula. As the season broke early in Adrossan, Bill and most farmers in the region were heartened by the good rains and planted their crops as soon as they could. The good start meant crops grew well through winter. But the last significant rain fell in the middle of July, and August and September were the driest on record. By the end of September, it was clear that yields would be disappointing. |  |
"But there is a trade-off. Grain fetches a higher price per tonne than hay, so if we make the wrong choice we could lose out.'
Bill's gut feel was that he might get a greater financial return if he cut one or several of his wheat crops for hay. He decided to check his intuition with Yield Prophet®.
Even if the season finish of 2006 were to equal the driest year on record, Yield Prophet® predicted that Bill's wheat would still achieve significant grain yields. Given skyrocketing prices for wheat with the expanding national drought, Bill decided not to cut hay.
'I'm glad I followed Yield Prophet®', says Bill. 'We did get the driest year on record. The worst case scenario happened. But Yield Prophet's® prediction held true, and we safely harvested the paddock.
'It's fantastic-having access to this kind of science to check against your gut feel is just invaluable. Models like Yield Prophet® can save the industry millions of dollars by making decisions more clear cut.'
Contact: James Hunt, Birchip Cropping Group Yield Prophet® Coordinator
Phone: 03 9354 1654, 0429 922 787
Email: james.hunt@aanet.com.au
www.yieldprophet.com.au