Spraying:
A simple boom spray calibration method:
Fertilising:
A simple fertiliser box calibration method:
AGDAT
Agdat is an Information System for recording, exchanging, storing and analyzing any events that occur on the farm.
The information is entered and displayed as a map so records can be easily seen and understood.
Agdat is accessed via this website - click on the link to the left: 'Agdat - Productivity Mapper'
Tutorials are placed below and added when available.
How to work out your planting rate?
At planting time there is always discussion about planting rates. We often hear that the paddock was planted at a rate of, for example, 4.5 tonnes per acre. However, this rate is usually derived by the number of planter bins it took to plant a block of a known acreage - my planter bin holds 1.8 tonnes and it took 7 and a half bins to plant a 3 acre block. But every time the planter bin is filled it wont hold exactly 1.8 tonnes and different varieties will make a big difference to bin weight capacity.
The only way to accurately determine your planting rate is to measure what is going into the drill.
Click on the link below to download a quick and accurate method to measure your planting rate.
Planting rate - a simple method to determine your planting rate per ha
Soil temperatures and germination
As a general rule germination of cane will be very slow when soil temperatures drop below about 17°C to 18°C and will be increasingly faster as temperatures approach 35°C. Germination rarely occurs at temperatures below 11°C and even between 11°C and 17°C, the rate may be too slow to avoid the death of setts due to attack by soil rots or other pathogens.
Logging of soil temperatures is a good way of indicating the optimum time to commence planting. On the basis of previous monitoring the soil temperature at Broadwater and Harwood usually reaches an average of 17°C around the second week of September. At Condong it's a little earlier due the warmer conditions.
This paper presents the results of experiments conducted in the Condong and Broadwater districts where single blocks of cane have been harvested using several distinct harvesting methods, including green cane harvesting of the whole crop (including trash) and burnt cane harvesting with trash extracted. The results showed that whole crop harvesting yields about 24% more biomass than conventional burnt cane harvesting, including at least 40% extra dry, ash-free fibre. The results showed a 14% increase in pol yield for whole crop harvesting compared to conventional burnt cane harvesting although the amount of this extra pol that can be converted to sugar is unknown.