Swathing field crops in the south-west

Swathing is a long established method of haarvesting field crops, especially in parts of Europe and North America. It involves cutting the crop when the seed is nearly mature and laying it in a swath or windrow to dry. when the crop has dried it is harvested using conventional harvesting machinery with a pick-up attatchment. On the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia, an area prone to strong moist sea breezes, swathing barley is a common practice. More farmers along Western Australia\u27s south coast are also swathing barley to reduce losses from conventional harvesting. Pod shattering losses of lupins and field peas can also be reduced by swathing