Agriculture
5 August, 2024
Crunching way to better paddock productivity
ROCKY paddocks at Berrimal have become more productive for the Polkinghornes since putting a giant rock crusher to work. Greg Polkinghorne last week had the Reefinator in action before more than 70 farmers from across the Loddon while inventor Tim...
ROCKY paddocks at Berrimal have become more productive for the Polkinghornes since putting a giant rock crusher to work.
Greg Polkinghorne last week had the Reefinator in action before more than 70 farmers from across the Loddon while inventor Tim Pannell gave tips on its use.
“As machinery became larger, rocky outcrops in paddocks limited where he could go. We started to look for alternatives that could make for more productive farming of the land,” Greg said.
“The machine can cover about three hectares an hour travelling at 10kmh, or 2.1 hectares if heavier going and doing 7kmh. We’ve spent something like 250 hours putting the Reefinator over our paddocks.
“And so far, that’s helped us cover about 1000 hectares last spring and summer.”
Greg said there was now more land that could be sown with canola and potentially wheat and barley.
“And we will be able to sow perrenial pastures, too, probably lucerne,” he said.
Son Shaun said more land was able to be used as an A-B line with GPS settings, also increasing farm efficiency for sowing and use of boom sprays.
“We had done everything we could to work around the rocks and reefs or removing rocks and putting them in piles. The Reefinator became a logical next step,” Shaun said.
Greg and Shaun said better access and efficiency in their Berrimal paddocks would lift yield potential.
Tim, from Western Australia, spoke with farmers about his revolutionary invention at the on-site field day organised by Driscoll AG.