GROWING a winning wheat crop is easy - just add water, and plenty of it.

While there is obviously more to it than this, the right amount of rain at the right time has proved a winning combination for the Twynam Agricultural Group.

AT A GLANCE
• Who: Rob Collins
• What: cropping
• Why: award-winning wheat
• Where: Hillston, NSW
• Report: FIONA MYERS

There's been so much rain around Hillston in NSW that a crop that could have been irrigated, but wasn't, was judged the district's best dryland wheat crop.

The irony is not lost on Rob Collins, who manages Merrowie and Brooklyn stations for the Twynam group.

He reckons he feels slightly uncomfortable in taking the title as they did have the ability to irrigate the crop if required.

The Gregory wheat crop was sown on May 10 into marginal soil moisture.

A lateral irrigator was on standby the whole season, but that is where it stayed as 428mm of growing-season rain pushed the crop along.

"It got away immediately and we never had to irrigate," Rob said.

It's been a long haul in the Hillston district and years of drought are fresh in the minds of every farmer.

Just how bad it has been is apparent by comparing this year's falls of 428mm from April until the end of October, to last year's total of 209mm.

The crop was sown into a paddock that had been fallow last year and had grown dryland wheat the previous two years.

Summer rain meant weed control was important, so the paddock was sprayed with Roundup and Goal in November, Roundup and Ally in February and Roundup and Garlon in March to keep weeds down during the fallow phase.

The Gregory wheat was sown at a rate of 40kg a hectare, with the seed dressed with Baytan to prevent smut, bunts and stripe rust.

It was sown at a 33cm spacing by local contractor Agristar, using a NDF AG disc planter, a machine that allows accurate seed placement even in wet or uneven conditions.

Rob said the uniformity of the crop, which drew comment from the judges, was largely due to the way it was planted.

In-season treatments included 50kg/ha of DAP, 35g/ha of Logran as a pre-emergent weed control and 1.2 litres/ha to control weeds post crop emergence.

While growing-season rain was good all the way through, Rob said spring rain at the critical time gave the crop "an incredible kick along".

The crop had 75mm of rain in September and 147mm in October, allowing grains to fill and boost yield.

Judges estimated the Gregory wheat crop would yield 6.2 tonnes/ha, before the wet weather.

One of the judges, Barry Haskins, from Industry and Investment NSW, said the winning crop had benefited greatly from late rain and a cool finish to the season.

"The soil had a lot of underlying nutrition resulting from years of zero production in the drought," he said. "This allowed the crop to host nearly 400 heads per square metre, and an average of more than 50 grains in each head.

"Many other crops in the district only averaged 300 heads a square metre and had smaller heads."

Barry said the "near-perfect seeding job" by the disc planter meant the crop was very even in its growth. The amount of growing-season rain was also a key.

"This crop had nearly double the long-term average growing-season rainfall, and if it yields 6.2 tonnes/ha as expected, it will achieve more than 16.5kg of grain for each millimetre of rainfall," he said. "This yield figure is underestimated though as there is still moisture remaining in the soil."

Barry said many of the district's crops had performed well.

"The heavier clay soils have responded the best this year, mainly due to their inherently higher nutrition and ability to hold more water," he said.

"The typical lighter, dryland soils have still performed well but are about 1 tonne/ha behind.

"Many crops are averaging more than 4t/ha and some more than 5-6t/ha on dryland."