Harvesting methods in south coastal, high rainfall crops

Results of trials carried out in south-western Australia over the past three years have shown that swathing or windrowing cereal and legume crops can result in significant advantages to growers.Swathing barley, wheat and oat crops at Mt. Barker resulted in large yield advantages over direct harvesting of standing crops. This was a result of overcoming shedding losses in the standing crop caused by strong wind and rain. Grain quality of barley and oats was not significantly affected by swathing, however, the quality of swathed wheat was sometimes worse than direct harvested grain if the harvest was delayed.Swathing cereals at Newdegate and Geraldton generally resulted in little yield advantage compared with direct harvesting. Lupins swathed at Mt. Barker and Geraldton yielded significantly more than direct harvest of standing lupins. Swathing reduced pod shattering by an average of 10% of the yield potential. Swathed and direct harvested lupins at Newdegate gave similar yields. Quality of swathed and direct harvested lupins was similar at all sites