Podcast Transcript: Regional Update with Andrew Ruhle
28/06/2021
Jessica Strauss
In today's regional update, we're heading to the northern region and catching up with Darling Downs and Western downs farmer Andrew rule. Andrew is growing cereal grains using 12 metre controlled traffic. He's got cattle and a no till approach. We're going to learn today about how Andrew set up a custom spreader for his child trampolining on his class header and what impact that's had on his weed control. And he does join me now. How you going, Andrew?
Andrew Ruhle
Hey, Jess, going well.
Jessica Strauss
Thank you so much for taking a few minutes out of your day to have a chat with us on the podcast. So firstly, I'd love to hear a little bit more detail about your farming system. Can you give us an overview?
Andrew Ruhle
So where we're located, the main properties on the Darling Downs the Bongeen, were a summer dominated cropping programmes and sorghum the main cropping in that. And then we have a winter rotation with wheat and barley. So we generally have two sorghum crops go on sorghum and then short fallow and sorghum then that's double cropped into wheat, which then long fallow back through to sorghum to create a three rotation cycle with that, and then our western country had just has a mix of wheat and water crops. That's about it
Jessica Strauss
Andrew, thanks for that overview. And so we mentioned in that intro there that you have set up a spread out on your header. And I'd love for you to tell the story of how that idea came up for you and how you implemented it.
Andrew Ruhle
Yeah, we came about the idea probably has a lot of ideas in rural communities as it was over a couple of beers in the afternoon having a chat with a neighbour and he had a set of chaff decks on his Claas harvester, and chewing the fat having a few beers and then we come up with the Claas chaff spinners are able to be rotated 90 degrees out to the side. So instead of spending the 20 odd thousand dollars on a conveyor system like the chaff decks, I thought, we spun those and just made a rubber chute. The chaff just hits the chute and falls straight down onto behind the rear axel, so we knocked up a quick frame just before harvest and trialled it out. And yeah, we haven't taken them off.
Jessica Strauss
Yeah, that's great. So that was last harvest?
Andrew Ruhle
That was probably about three years ago. We've had a drought in the middle of that and we missed a crop, so we've done about two harvests with them on there. Yeah.
Jessica Strauss
Okay, cool. And how are they going? What sort of impact do you think has it had on your weed control?
Andrew Ruhle
It's not definitive just yet, just because of the seasons. The dry season, we're mainly chasing feathertop Rhodes grass, because we're a summer dominated cropping programme with sorghum, so we're generally harvesting in January, February, March period. And we find that Feathertop Rhode's grass really gets going around that January, February when the bigger the summer storm, they get going in crop. So in the sorghum then when they come to harvest, of course, it's grown up to the same amount as the sorghum. Generally, patches and short of lifting up the comb and leaving areas all the time, just nipping the head off the top effectively harvesting feathertop Rhode's grass, just coming in a massive spreader offers so the idea is with the chaff lining in the tram tracks is just trying to drop those Feathertop Rhode's grass seed into a pretty inhospitable area. And then when we come through, and wheel track renovate, you should bury those under three or four inches of soil and hopefully they'll stay there until they come unviable.
Jessica Strauss
Yeah, fingers crossed, and it does sound really promising. So we'll have to check back in with you in a couple of harvest's time to see if there has been a quantifiable impact on those feathertop Rhode's. But yeah, obviously feathertop Rhode's is a really big weed burden in your area. And yeah, it's obviously a weed that you and other farmers really need to come up with solutions for and that sounds like a really good plan that you've got there with that system. What other major weed burdens are you facing on your farm and in your area, Andrew?
Andrew Ruhle
case of roundup tolerant milk thistles, and we have one neighbour who grows a lot of cotton, but he is a very proactive neighbour as well. And he's really jumped on that hard to really reduce the property of any milk thistles. We've had ours tested and it doesn't seem to have gone over the fence, which is good, but those two are the main culprits in our area and everything else is somewhat easily controllable.
Jessica Strauss
Oh, well, that's good to hear. And so you've mentioned quite a few of the strategies you're using to keep on top of feathertop Rhode's already. But is there any other WeedSmart Big Six principles that you're using to keep on top of the weeds at your place?
Andrew Ruhle
With feathertop Rhode’s, we're of the size where it's still viable to run around on four wheels with 60 litre knapsacks, so any bad paddocks and bad patches, we hit pretty hard with Dual and that type of thing and try to really suppress it down and get residual damage, just in patches, and then using glufosinate and then also trying to mix up those chemicals. so we're not creating a second resistance in it.
Jessica Strauss
Yeah, that's great to hear. And Andrew, do you have any tips for other growers in your area on you know, either maybe doing something similar and setting up their own chaff tramlining system on their header or any other weed control tips or strategies you would suggest for growers to consider in your patch?
Andrew Ruhle
Yeah, for the guys looking to set-up a chaff lining system, I'm not too sure about the other makes like John Deere's and Case and how easy it would be, but generally, if there's a will, there's a way you can you can figure out a way to do it. But it's certainly the way we did I mean, the cost is probably $500 in materials and labour to do it. It's a very cheap and hopefully effective way of just creating another tool just constantly attacking and trying to keep on top of any weed problems.
Jessica Strauss
Yeah, for sure. Well, Andrew, we'll have to keep in touch with you and hear how it goes over the next few harvests that you have. Thank you so much for giving us a bit of a snapshot into your farming system and your approach to weed control. We really appreciate you taking the time.
Andrew Ruhle
No worries. Thank you.