growers@sgcotton.com.au Roger Tomkins - Greenmount Press

District Reports…
Central Queensland
The wet start to the winter certainly held up a few growers,
who were already behind due to the wet pick. Yields and quality
certainly didn’t improve at the tail end of the crop.
While early picked cotton (before the 6 inch March rain
event), generally yielded quite well in both Central Highlands and
Dawson Callide, the later crops were rain and weather affected,
with yields down by more than a bale per acre. This late rainfall
on open cotton also affected quality with significant grade
discounts being received. The bulk of the dryland cotton seemed
to get through the worst of the rain and yields and quality were
generally quite good.
With cotton prices holding on the lower end, a reasonable
area was committed to winter cropping. Chickpeas have been a
bit sluggish and there is some concern yields will be reduced. At
this stage, cotton planting in Central Highlands is estimated to be
a bit lower than in recent years, but 17,000 hectares of irrigated
cotton is still anticipated.
Dawson/Callide will not have a large variation in planting area,
with about 6000 hectares expected. Delays in field workings
due to rain, has meant that farm hygiene, particularly control
of volunteers and ratoons has been below par for a number of
farms. Growers and consultants are concerned about pest issues,
especially mealy bugs, causing early season issues. It is hoped a
large last minute effort makes a difference.
There has already been a number of incidents of spray drift
damage on chickpeas in the region this winter. With the finishing
winter crop, as well as a larger planting of corn, growers should be
very careful with herbicides regardless of the crop and communicate
with neighbours as to where sensitive crops are planted.
Susan Maas
August 23, 2012
St George and Dirranbandi
As with other valleys, the Lower Balonne region is still madly
fertilising country after a few wet weeks in May and June. The
upside of this is the fact that the trash from last year’s crop is
breaking down nicely and certainly doesn’t appear as though it
will be the headache it was for us during last year’s planting.
Another benefit from all the rain is the fact that the country
has great soil tilth the larger clods left over from the centre
busting operation have brocken down.
District Reports
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With the wet winter that the Darling Downs experienced, the
St George and Dirran growers benefited from their allocation of
Big N though the greater majority of growers had worked in a
large percentage of country being applied with Urea.
Unfortunately the rain has also resulted in some major
discounts on quality especially for those late fields picked
during May and June. Yields as mentioned previously are down
considerably from the 2010–11 season and down on ‘normal’
seasons yields. Average yields have been somewhere between
3.2–3.8 bales per acre with the odd well drained fields/farms
averaging 4.0 bales per acre.
All going well, the greater majority of farms well be finished
fertiliser within the next two weeks which on the long range
forecast appears dry.
Here’s looking forward to another season and a few hangovers
at the Cotton Conference.
Dallas King
August 21, 2012
Border Rivers
It took a while but picking finally wound up in mid June.
The combination of people chasing late bolls, picking capacity
stretched to the limit, and several rainfall events throughout
picking meant it wasn’t a quick process.
The irrigated yields are more variable than they have been
for several years with some farms averaging around seven bales
per hectare and some close to 11 bales per hectare. The district
average has been estimated at 9.5 bales per hectare.
The lower yields came from a range of factors including farms
with limited drainage, late/poor land preparation, inadequate
upfront nitrogen fertiliser, and unfortunate irrigation timings.
Generally lighter soils and well drained fields performed best this
year – usually the worst performing fields in the drought years.
Although there were not many crops grown on fallow fields
this year, the rough indication was they were one to two bales
per hectare better than back-to-back cotton fields, which
comprised a vast majority of the district.
Dryland yields have been very good – ranging from four to
seven bales per hectare, even in the western end of the district.
Fibre quality of the earliest picked cotton was the best with a
lot of 21s and a few 31s. As the season progressed, 31s became
the norm with a reasonable amount of 41s. The staple length,
strength and micronaine have all been very good. Leaf has been
mostly 2 or 3 but there have been some pockets of 4.
Land preparation is generally more advanced than it was this
time last year but it was slowed by some good rainfall events
throughout June and July. These events have been very useful for
the large winter crop in the district which is looking very good.
Early indications on intentions next year suggest a slight
decline in irrigated areas with people taking the opportunity to
August–September 2012 The Australian Cottongrower — 61