AUGUST 2015 Over 50 people attended the How’s Your Roots Going Field Walk at Harding’s between Ongerup and Needilup on the 4th August.

Bacon and egg sandwiches made by the team from FBG, NSP and Sally Harding were ready as the farmers and DAWFA staff arrived

at 7.30pm. After brief introductions of the DAFWA researchers by FBG CEO, Anne Sparrow, Jeremy Lemon, Paul Blackwell and

David Hall then outlined the Sub Soil Constraints projects in progress with FBG in our region while we waited for the fog to lift and

the dew to dry off a bit.

HOW’s YOUR ROOTs GOING? CONTROLLED TRAFFIC and SUB SOILS FIELD WALK

The field walk started with the paddock history and why Harding’s had

implemented the Controlled Traffic Farming (CTF) method. They cited

the easy of usage and that they had cut their traffic across the paddock

down from 40% to 5% by using CFT. They could get onto their paddocks

when wet weather made it difficult as the tracks were not as boggy as

the rest of the paddock. David Hall used a penetrometer to show the

difference in the tracks compared to the paddock. Livestock was

discussed and was deemed to have a negligible impact on paddock

compaction, contrary to previous beliefs.

The next portion of the trial included a look into the reintroduction of deep ripping, particularly in CFT farming. The deep ripping

trial used different boots to try; incorporating top soil to depth, simply ripping to depth and a control. The control was extremely

hard once you reached the 30 cm mark and water use efficiency would have been less as the root systems of the plants were few

and far between. The simple ripping showed that the soil loosened up marginally but only in the tracks dug. The incorporation

treatment showed the top soil that had been bought down in tracks where the tine was. There was some discussion as to whether

bringing the topsoil further down in the profile

A lot of boot scuffing ensued…… a lot more

hands in deep pockets, squelching up Wes’s

paddock ‘negligable compaction’ in Wellies,

and a bit of ‘friendly’ banter between

DAFWA researchers followed.

The morning finished with cake and coffee

back in the shed. Thanks to DAFWA, North

Stirlings Pallinup Group and Harding’s for

partnering with FBG on this event.

UNRIPPED DEEP RIPPPED DEEP RIPPED

30cm 45-60cm

MARK THESE DATES IN YOUR CALENDAR FBG Spring Field Day 16th September 2015 FBG AGM 13th October 2015

Contact FBG for more details ph. 9835 1127 Like us on Facebook to keep up to date with what's happening at the Fitzgerald Biosphere Group.

FBG 2015 SPRING FIELD DAY Wednesday 16th September

CONGRATULATIONS Congratulations to FBG Trial Coordinator Karryn Dorrell on

becoming Karryn Duncan. Karryn got married to Rian Duncan

on Saturday 1st August in the Fitzgerald River National Park.

7:30am—Breakfast (Lawson Grains & Hassel District Traders at Jacup)

Rabobank: Commodity Outlook

Work Health & Safety– ITS NOT THAT HARD!- Lawson Grains and Hassad

Ear wig Trial

Lime and Gypsum trial/ soil pit

Drone imagery

NVT Wheat

NVT Barley

FBG Fertiliser Trial/ What's new in Canola

FBG Overview and Projects

Soils under Microscope Study

Sundowner to wrap up the Day at the

Jerramungup Sports Club from 5:00pm

For safety reasons sign in on the day is essential, No late comers!

Enquiries and RSVP to 08 9835 1127 or anne@fbg.org.au

FBG Members FREE/ non members $20

Bus pick up at Wellstead, Boxwood and Gairdner if RSVP’s are received.

Sustain-a-Bulletin

MMM Tour MMM Tour

FBG Meat, Malt and Marketing Tour Wrap Up!

Discussions on the benefits of saltbush included a taste test and effect on meat quality.

On the 27th July FBG Trials Co-ordinator Karryn Dorrell and FBG NRM Project Officer Georgina Griffiths took eight local farmers on a Meat, Malt and Marketing tour to Perth. The first stop was to look at saltland revegetation on Graydon Wilcox`s property, Woodanilling. The group were shown the salt land legume, Messina planted last season, and old man saltbush plantings available for stock. Karryn explained that Messina is an exciting new annual pasture legume for winter-wet saltland areas in southern Australia. Messina’s combined tolerance to salinity and waterlogging ensures that it will make a significant contribution to increasing the productivity of Australian saltland. It is also likely to hold significant potential for export markets.

The MMM tour group had the benefit of seeing a commercial boneout from the MLA nucleus flock to weigh and measure the meat muscle and fat densities in carcasses to evaluate true commercial value. New technologies have been developed to take these measurements and the boneout aided the calibration of this equipment. The future for processors is to improve end of supply chain production and leave minimal waste of carcass. Using the CT scanner in the veterinary sciences laboratory the meat to bone mass was also measured, this research will lead to better breeding of high muscled sheep types and improve consumer product choices. The group was shown an autoanalyzer for measuring glycogen levels in meat.

We were given a taste test of different cuts of lamb cooked on the BBQ to determine the edibility of secondary cuts (ie topside and silverside). Everyone agreed they were all pretty good,

Morning tea with some of the Murdoch staff became a lively affair when Dr Ian Edwards joined the group and discussion turned to his development of GrangeR barley and its specific growing

The Murdoch University Tour was guided by Kelly Pearce and Professor Dave Pethick and included a presentation from Professor Mike Jones and a look at the WA State Agricultural Biotechnology Centre. Here they are developing genome technology to combat cereal plant and root diseases through gene silencing and genetic breeding of plants that are resistant to root lesion nematodes and aphids. The lab visits included a look at a DNA photocopier and equipment that was able to isolate the genetic profile to identify grain variety. It was discussed that of all testing that has been done for varietal verification, less than 10% has been found to be what it was supposed to be.

Professor Wujan Ma from Grain Protein Capacity Building Program delivered information on Australian wheat standards compared to USA and how protein regulates product quality and marketability.

Professor Yong Lin Ren from CRC Plant Biosecurity discussed after harvest grain storage and the options available, including the use of nitrogen in sealed silos and the investigation into adding food grade dust (hydrophyllic) as an non-chemical method of controlling insect infestations in grain storage. He currently has a patent pending on the food grade dust he has developed.

From this ……………………. to this

Ron, Nathan, Wendy, Karryn, Stu, Karen, Tony, Georgina and Nicky.

`it was great to see so many people enthusiastic and wanting to make a better future for our and

worldwide farmers.‘ Wendy Brown

After arriving at the Metro Grains Centre (MGC) and being fitted with safety gear, our guide Glenn explained the inner workings of the terminal. The CBH Group is Australia’s largest co-operative and a leader in the Australian grain industry, with operations extending along the value chain from grain storage, handling, transport, marketing and processing.

Established in Western Australia in 1933, CBH has continuously evolved, innovated and grown. Its storage and handling system currently receives and exports around 90 per cent of the Western Australian grain harvest and is regarded as one of the best in the world. MGC can store over 200,000 tonnes of grain and backloads wheat, barley and lupins into shipping containers back to China.

The centre is strategically located close to domestic markets and processors, with road and rail access to Fremantle Port for container export and bulk shipping via the CBH Kwinana Grain Terminal. It has the ability to clean grain, adding value to the product by preparing it for specialised markets.

The MGC site also houses the Australian Grains Centre (AGC), a centre of excellence for grain technology. The Centre provides the most advanced on-site grain testing facilities in Australia. It delivers enhanced grain analysis, quality control and research into storage methods and grain varieties. The Metro Grains terminal is situated adjacent to Joe White Malting facility

Barrett Burston Malters was our next stop where production services manager John Hambly gave us a look at the seven day malting process. The conversion of barley into malt begins at the steeping vessels where cleaned barley is subjected to steeping programs of up to 19 hours. After steeping, the batch is conveyed to one of the four conventional germination boxes where it remains for four days. Kilning completes the process and is carried out over 37 hours across the two floor circular kiln. The barley is germinated at 45% moisture and then taken down to 4% moisture as the final product after being cleaned ready to be used in beer making.

On Wednesday we headed off to Katanning to check out the new sheep selling facility. The saleyards can hold up to 44,000 head of sheep with the most common breed being merino. There is over 40,000 m2 of roof making up the saleyards shed and 65,000m2 of bitumen concourse and concrete. For every 10 mm of rainfall run-off at the saleyards complex over one million litres of water can be captured. It is the largest undercover saleyards in the southern hemisphere.

170 kms of pipe was cut to 2.862 m lengths and welded on site to make the 5,500 panels for the yards. After much discussion on the drafting system it was time to head back to Jerramungup.

With so much to take in about barley and malting, beer was not far from everyone`s thoughts and that was our last destination for the day, Little Creatures Brewery in Fremantle. We were met at the Brewhouse bar by Ian (a little creature) and taken through the brewing process. We discovered it was hops that changed the style of beer and along with water, malt and yeast this was all that was needed to create a pale ale or the like. Along with the 10 steps of production from milling to distribution, the group were keen to sample the brews, after all, the malt came from Joe White malting and they were practically there not so long ago!

Above: Ian, the Little Creatures tour guide.

…. and barman Happy tasters Wendy, Nathan and Nicky

`The FBG MMM Study Tour was a great opportunity for farmers to come together and learn more about

Grain/Meat research and what happens to our product beyond the farm gate’. Nicky Wisewould