THE RECOGNITION that turning to a chemical drum was not a sustainable way to control herbicide resistant weeds led to one Victorian farming family making an investment in post-harvest weed seed management in the form of chaff decks.
The Giles family, Nerrina Farms, Charlton, in North Central Victoria, have run Emar chaff decks on their header over the past four seasons and are starting to see results.
Tim Giles said he was confident the chaff decks, which place harvest chaff onto machinery tram lines, was reducing weed seed numbers, in particular ryegrass, the major problem weed in the area.
Tim, together with his father Stuart, farms 2000 hectares, growing wheat, barley, canola, oats for oaten hay, lupins, faba beans and field peas using a controlled traffic (CTF) system.
He said the Emar chaff decks had initially been fitted on an S670 John Deere harvester for three years until last year they upgraded to an S780 and had a new set of chaff decks fitted by their machinery dealership, Haeusler's in Sea Lake.
The Emar chaff deck system works in conjunction with the principles of the CTF system.
The chaff component, including weed seeds, is placed on the tram lines.
The compacted tram lines, which is where all the farm machinery drives, is a more hostile environment for weed seeds to grow.
The Gileses make it even more difficult by putting more crop seed down on the tram lines.
"We are currently still seeding our tramlines, and on the seeder, we have an extra hose to each of the tynes on the tramlines" Tim said.
"This effectively doubles the rate of seed sown in the tramlines for even more competition where we know the ryegrass is going to be"
"Anything non-chemical that can help reduce the reliance on herbicides needs to be considered," Tim said, pointing to the rise in herbicide resistant weeds across the country.
"While no system can be 100 percent effective, we have already noticed a significant reduction in weed infestation since we started using the chaff decks," he said.
In terms of operating costs, he said running the chaff decks had not significantly increased fuel costs, while the purchase price represented good value.
"It really is a small cost when you see what it can do in terms of helping us control herbicide resistant weeds."
The Giles have been moving towards a full CTF system over the past five years.
"All machine widths now match, but it's a system that does take time to implement, with some of our machinery not yet on 3-metre wheel spacings"
Tim said the chaff decks fitted in well with the major principle of CTF, which is to contain traffic in the paddock to set tram lines.
The compacted tram lines are the perfect location to place chaff containing weed seeds.
Emar Chaff Decks are manufactured in Australia under licence by Primary Sales Australia.