Latest News• Add My News • Search Old News Gippsland › Latest news › Department of Primary IndustriesBe Ready For Harvest This Year!"How would you like to cut hundreds (possibly thousands) of dollars off your harvest bill this season?" "How would you like to cut hundreds (possibly thousands) of dollars off your harvest bill this season?" asks Frank Mickan, Pasture and Fodder Conservation Specialist, DPI, Ellinbank. Assuming there is enough rain or irrigation water for crops and for excess pasture growth this year, it is possible to achieve this on many farms. HOW? By being prepared well ahead for the upcoming harvest.
What is the cost of poor preparation? Many contractors are charging high rates per tonne or per hour ($150 - 250/hour) for high capacity harvesting equipment such as forage harvesters. This is justifiable, given the high cost of their equipment. But, if that machine is sitting idle in your paddock for half an hour, it will cost you $75 - $125! If each hour of downtime was costing $150 - $250 then this is equivalent to the cost of a range of one tonne of supplements, priced in a "normal" year. Just one tonne of that supplement could, conservatively, return you over $340 as milk, so the downtime is actually costing you twice the harvesting rate. If downtime adds up to several hours over the whole harvest then work out that cost OR rather, the potential for savings! Where can savings be made?1. Harvest on time. For various reasons many farmers do not service their mower, rake, forager, etc. until the day or so before harvest. As a result they either miss seeing worn or cracked parts which should have been replaced, or harvest is delayed some days because the dealer has to order in the required parts. For every seven to ten days delay in harvest after the grasses start to head, digestibility decreases 2. Fast and safe access to the storage area. If the laneways and/or gateways are narrow or badly pot holed, this substantially slows down the delivery of chopped forage to the stack and return of the empty cart or trucks. If there are no extra carts available or there are bottle necks when the carts meet half way down narrow laneways, these all stop the forager working. This is another opportunity to save dollars. Have laneways and gateways graded smoothly. Have new laneways built wider or possibly a section where they can pull over. Consider cutting fences or dropping sleepers over electric fences to enable the carts to travel across the paddocks to the storage site. Have access to and around the stack area clear, if possible. These suggestions will allow for the fast delivery to the stack of the harvested material and a fast turnaround. 3. Have clean paddocks with obstacles well marked. How often does a machine breakdown because it has hit a stump, wombat hole or worse in the paddock? You know the cost of forager downtime but even a delay in mowing, spreading or raking could be costing you hundreds of dollars. This delay may require an extended period of wilting to meet the target dry matter content. This may add a half to one extra day for wilting if the delay was serious, such as two to four punctured tyres from driving over harrows. IT HAPPENS! Being caught by rain (again) because the harvest is delayed is a "hidden" cost that is never factored in. What about the impact on the contractor who has you penned in for a certain start date, along with the other five farmers around that time. What about the cost of the possibility of injury to yourself or your worker (broken wrist or worse), and the cost if that person is out of action as a result? In this day and age, what about the potential for legal action by a contractor or worker for lack of "duty of care"? 4. Train your operators well. How often do you hear that the most important job of harvest is the raking and/or the rolling of the stack? How often are these jobs done by the least experienced person, a son or daughter, albeit saving money. Listen to the guy on the baler or forager trying to pick up poorly formed windrows. He has to slow down, back up, go again, etc. All wasted time and lost dollars. How many "near death" experiences occur on the tops of stacks, especially at night, due to inexperience, lack of clear visibility, poor tractor lighting, blinding from delivery carts, no side protection on the tops of stacks and so on? Apart from the dollars lost in equipment damage or personal injury, what is the cost of a life, or someone being in a wheel chair for a long time, …or for ever? Please think about the above, and the many not suggested. Be prepared! Be prepared well ahead, and save some money! NEW CD-ROM MAKING AN IMPACTA CD-ROM/video on Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques for brassica growers was recently produced at the Primary Industries Research Producers Emily Tee and Anita Chennell said that the product features research scientists presenting advice on best practice methods, while brassica growers talk about their experiences in implementing IPM techniques and their reasons for adopting them. Approximately 1500 of the CDs have been posted to levy- paying brassica growers across Growers who have used the CD-ROM rate it as being easy to use and agree that it has encouraged them to try something different in their pest and disease management practices. Production of the CD-ROM/video was supported by the vegetable industry levy, Horticulture Australia Limited and the former NRE. Non-levy-paying growers can purchase copies for $30 (CD-ROM) or $25 (video). Contact Crop Health Services at PIRVic Knoxfield on (03) 92109222. Source: http://gippsland.com/ Published by: news@gippsland.com
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