Specialist fodder crop exceeds expectations

Dennis and Adrian Perry’s specialist crop of wheat reached shoulder height before being cut for chaff.

Wheat crops grown specifically for chaff at Mayreef are thriving even though the average annual rainfall is down.

Dennis and Adrian Perry run a stockfeed business and saddlery and grow fodder crops.

They were thrilled with the performance of their wheat crop, which was cut in recent days and will be later rolled and made into chaff.

The area where they farm at Mayreef has received 279mm of rain for the calendar year, which is back on the average annual figure of 387mm.

The 60ha wheat crop was estimated to yield up to 8 tonnes/ha in what Dennis described as a good result.

Dennis and Adrian Perry of Mayreef are thrilled with how their crop of Ford wheat has performed this season. Picture: Zoe Phillips

He said, unlike crops that were harvested for grain, the specialist chaff variety called Ford was valued by the overall bulk and dry matter yield rather than grain content.

It was also known for the height to which it grew - well up to Dennis’s shoulders before it was cut.

Overall the grain fill was considered less important than the sugar level and the ability to cut the crop soon after flowering, to provide quality chaff.

“We want the hay with the sugar in it rather than the grain,” he said.

“Rainfall is back, but we have had quite a reasonable season.

“We would be happy not to see rain from now on.”

However, he conceded other farmers in the district still needed follow-up rain during the grain-fill stage for their crops.

Despite extensive frost and hail damage across much of Victoria the fodder crops were fortunate not to have been affected.

Dennis said once the chaff variety was raked and rolled it would be stored at Kyneton and used all year around to make hay that was ultimately destined for the wholesale market.

“It ends up in Melbourne and then gets distributed back into many of the country areas,” he said.