Dairy shuns urea for R.U.M.

Des Parker with his stand of 10 week old maize. We should point out that Des and his brother, Max, who handled the sowing, both top the 'six foot six' mark.

Long recognised as one of northern Victoria's better dairy farms, Des and Rae Parker's thriving 'Tongala' dairy is an excellent case study in sustainability. Years of careful attention to pasture nutrition, has resulted in top milk yields, excellent calving rates and, interestingly, a reduction in water usage.

So when Des and Rae heard their contractor's fertiliser recommendations for their new crop, they could hardly believe their ears. 500 units of N per hectare? That's over 400kg/acre of urea! "Not on our place!", said Rae. "We'd previously grown oats with R.U.M. on the 20 acres we had set aside for the maize, so I knew that soil was in balance." The N budget was then defiantly reduced by about 95% and 3L/ha of R.U.M. added to the flood irrigation water over each of three waterings. DAP, at the rate of 300kg/ha, was worked in at planting.

The resulting growth, in only 10 weeks, has exceeded expectations with a 10 ft. high crop of good, dark coloured and well-formed cobs.

Imagine having over 5000 critics drive past your crop every day. Herb and Anne Ware, who farm 500 acres at the intersection of the New England and Cunningham Highways near Warwick, QLD know just what it's like! But, according to Herb, the 'roadside farmers' have quietened down over the last three years. "Since I started using R.U.M. on my sunflowers and sorghum, the silence has been deafening. Except for the locals who have been quite loud in their praise for the way our crops are looking now."

In early January, prior to planting his sunflowers into barley stubble, Herb applied 4L/ha R.U.M. with his glyphosate knockdown. Local R.U.M. distributor Alan Wallin advised Herb to use 200mls R.U.M./25kg seed as a dressing for both his sunflowers and sorghum. When the crop was knee-high, a further 3L/ha R.U.M. went on as a foliar application.

The benefit was apparent within three days. In fact, the first two rows of sunflowers nearest the highway, were being pilfered by light-fingered tourists. "Anne and I thought of setting up a roadside stall to sell the darned things", Herb laughed. Herb's excellent sorghum crop, a mix of Pacific 'Buster' and Pioneer 'Reward', was seed-dressed and sown in mid-December. R.U.M. was applied pre-planting at 4L/ha with glyphosate and followed up with 1L/ha R.U.M. mixed with atrazine.

"It's been over two years since I used any granular fertiliser", Herb said, "but our soil still tests OK for nutrients." Since then, using only R.U.M. to grow their crops, Herb reckons they've outlaid about $14,000. "I did some sums to find out what it would have cost to go the 'old way'. It was over $40,000!"

"I'm a 'bottom-line' man", Herb says, "and R.U.M. delivers where it matters."