ROSEVALE dairying brothers Darren and Craig Sellars have increased milk production significantly without major infrastructure upgrades by moving from a pasture-based system to cropping corn and barley.
Sellars Farms, in the Scenic Rim, retired pastures in 2001 and moved to a mixer wagon and feed-pad system, before switching to their current system of total mixed rations in 2005.
Milk production increased from 1.5 million litres from 200 Friesian cows in 2001, to 3 million litres of milk from 350 Friesians in 2015 - a rise from 20L per cow per day to 28L.
Darren, who handles the crop business, said upgrading their feed system had facilitated business growth.
"We have steadily increased our dry-matter tonnage and herd size, which has allowed us to get more milk from each cow without a large capital outlay," he said.
Growing crops also avoided expensive brought-in feed and weather risk.
"Growing corn instead of relying on pastures means the window for failure isn't so narrow. If you are hit hard by rain, you have the chance to sell the corn for grain if silage is no longer an option."
The pair, who run the dairy, cropping and beef operation with parents Lindsey and Heather, have also grown the operation by introducing GPS and precision planting, improving the irrigation system and improving herd genetics through a breeding program. The big cropping pay-off for the Norco suppliers came this year when their PAC 607IT corn crop broke the farm's grain yield barrier during February's harvest.
"We averaged 14.3 tonnes/ha across the crop, and the best was 14.8t/ha. That's the biggest corn crop we've had. You feel a bit proud when you see that."
CROPPING FACTS AT SELLARS FARM
- Alongside a bumper yield, the Sellars were able to tackle weeds such as Johnson grass, which proliferated after flooding in 2013, due to the variety's herbicide-tolerant trait. "We're situated low in a valley so we're always getting water through here," Darren Sellars said. "About 8 feet [2438mm] of water came down from the valley and washed weeds and Johnson grass into the paddock, so an IT [imidazolinone-tolerant] corn was needed for that Lightning herbicide."
- Lightning is the herbicide component of the Clearfield production system for post-emergent control of key weeds in Clearfield corn hybrids.
- Mr Sellars planted 200ha of corn in September, double-cropped 10ha of corn in February and planted 160ha of barley in April.
- The corn was seeded with a John Deere MaxEmerge precision vacuum planter on 76cm rows at 65,000 seeds/ha and had seven irrigations using a Trailco T400 travelling irrigator.