Farmers were initially approached to find paddocks that had similar rotation histories, and were in similar crops in 2006. The Sea Lake pair was an exception to this, where the farmers were keen to look at rotation as an issue, specifically whether the continuous cereal rotations being adopted by many No-Till farmers were as profitable as the fallow rotations more traditionally used in the area.
Before 2006
Cereal was sown in most paddocks in 2006, the first year ofthe project (Table 1). Many of the paddocks, both Till and no Till, had a good rotational history, including pulse crops and some hay. The Sea Lake No Till paddock had been set up for continuous cereals between 2002 and 2004, with three grass break crops. The Yaapeet No Till paddock had a two year grass break. The Culgoa and Sea Lake Till paddocks were the only ones to have exclusively cereal crops and fallow breaks.
After 2006
Rotation decisions after 2006 were partly determined by 2006 being such a dry year. At Culgoa, Patchewollock and Sea Lake No Till paddocks, cereal rotations continued, because there were no weed or disease threats. The Culgoa Till paddock was sown late after a late break in 2006, yielded poorly, and was resown in 2007. After a poor 2007 crop the paddock was left fallow in 2008. The Sea Lake Till paddock continued in its two year rotation cycle, having grown a reasonable crop (some cut for hay) in 2006. Ryegrass was an issue in the Patchewollock Till paddock in 2006. Clean-up crops of oaten hay (2007) and pea/lupin (2008) infollowing years had fewer weeds. The Patchewollock ‘Till’ crop in 2007 was sown No-Till but prickle-chained after sowing, and sown completely No-Till in 2008.
The Yaapeet Till paddock had ryegrass in patches in 2006. The following Chickpea crop was relatively grass-free but grew poorly, because of either disease or herbicide residue issues. The 2008 barley crop was cleaner. All Till crops at Yaapeet were cut for hay, with better production from barley in 2006/7 than from vetch in 2008.
Wheat crops at Donald in 2006 had symptoms of Crown rot. The Till farmer continued with a fallow/wheat rotation in the following years, while the no Till farmer grew a barley crop (some ryegrass, 2007) and vetch hay in 2008. Both lentil crops failed at Minyip in 2006, partly because of herbicide residues in the No Till paddock. The following wide-row (60cm) chickpea crop was clean, as was the 2008 wide-row barley. The Till farmer grew cereal crops in 2007 and 2008.
Table 1. Rotations in each of the focuspaddocks.
Note: The Patchewollock Till paddock had a summer crop of sorghum sown in December 2006.