Harvest is finished. It’s great to have this crop in the bin, after the last few years of drought. We didn’t see the big yields of 2016, but we achieved some solid results given the limited starting moisture, in-crop rainfall and light frost damage to moisture stressed crops.
Harvest started earlier than usual in mid October with early wheat. This ran for about 3 weeks with 4 combines, and then also 2 weeks harvesting chickpeas with 2 combines.
Once again the Shelbourne stripper head excelled, pushing harvest capacity beyond expectations. We were able to start days earlier while straw was still green, but the grain was ready. We ran the stripper 24hrs for 10 days before going to chickpeas with a flex head. Wheat yields averaged 3t/ha, and both kabuli and desi chickpeas averaged 2t/ha. 20mm of rain early in the harvest helped wash off the acidic chickpea dust so fires were not a problem this season as in the past. For most of the harvest the weather was great. The machinery held up well as breakdowns were few and far between. It sure pays to be well organised. Thanks to Farm Service Manager. Click on the images below to see the bigger picture.
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- Shed is full
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- cabcorn/chickpeas
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- Kabuli Chickpeas front. Desi chickpeas back.
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- Ricardo Farms Kabuli Chickpeas
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- Coolamon 60ton grain cart
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- Shelbourne stripper head
We would like to thank all that helped with harvest including, Jungle, Rex, Brody, Frank, Charlotte, Will, James, Ashley, Vincent, AJ, Tim, Nobby and Michael, and the crew from TBO, Andrew, Pete, Craig, Jeremy, Josh, Mick, Al, Murray and Lochie, Bob and Mitch, David and John, Robbo and Paddy. Also thanks for harvest meals from Cindi, and Sharon for deliveries. We couldn’t have done it without you all. We hope to see you back next season for another big harvest.
Many thanks and best wishes for Christmas and the New Year, David and Peter Ricardo