March 26, 2003

A trial planting has convinced the management of a farming and cattle property that there is a place for feed barley on the Central Highlands of Queensland.

Barley industry development officer Kym McIntyre, of the Queensland Department of Primary Industries Agency for Food and Fibre Sciences, said after trialing barley in their farming operation and feeding the grain through their feedlot at Comet, management of the AA Company Goonoo Farms was convinced of barley’s future role there.

Ms McIntyre said wanting a flexible grain supply for their feed rations and increased awareness of barley as a high quality feed grain had encouraged Goonoo to plant a commercial area of barley last season. 

“Despite the rather late plant and fairly tough season they were pleased with its performance. They planted mostly Kaputar barley, the main recommended variety for central Queensland. They also tried a small amount of two new varieties, Mackay and Binalong.”

She said because not everyone could grow prime hard wheat there were opportunities to try feed barley. There was also a need to spread the risk with more than one crop type, particularly when planting large areas.

“Barley has a different range of foliar diseases than wheat and can tolerate a 1deg lower frost,” she said. “It also has a lower requirement for nitrogen and is generally considered to have higher water use efficiency than wheat.

“Barley is a very leafy plant with vigorous seedling growth, ensuring a quick ground cover. This tends to give a much more effective control of weeds than wheat,” Ms McIntyre said.

“It also means that barley produces a lot more stubble, which can be converted to hay in dry seasons. Barley straw is considered softer, more palatable and therefore more valuable to stock than wheat straw.” 

Ms McIntyre said the commercial barley planting on Goonoo was an excellent example of what could be achieved in a trial.

“They planted a total of 435 ha of dryland barley, which produced an average yield of 1.97 t/ha. This compared with their average yield of 1.52 t/ha for their wheat. Under irrigation the yield comparison was reversed, with the wheat yielding 4.17 t/ha and the barley 3.23 t/ha.

She said to evaluate the difference between barley varieties grown at Goonoo Farms agronomist Doug Sands used a mobile weighbridge to test weigh a strip of each variety. The Kaputar and Mackay (both 2.1 t/ha) were slightly ahead of Binalong (1.9 t/ha).

Ms McIntyre said she would expect Kaputar and Mackay to out- perform Binalong on the Central Highlands, particularly when planted in late June as this crop was.

“Binalong is a medium slow maturing variety while Mackay and Kaputar are medium to medium quick. Proteins for the barley were in the high 14 to low 15 percent range. Binalong could have been a better choice under irrigation as it has shorter straw, with very high yield potential.”

She said Goonoo Feedlot was interested in the potential use of locally produced barley to meet part of their feed requirements. Feedlot manager Sean McGee believed barley could provide another option for use in conjunction with sorghum. Goonoo had been accessing maize grown locally for a number of years, which had helped to successfully develop a maize industry on the Central Highlands.

She said Mr McGee saw benefits in having more feed supply options and being able to buy grain at different times of the year. Wheat was generally not relied on, due to the price of prime hard and the benefits of feeding barley with its higher fibre content.

Mr McGee felt there were significant benefits in being able to access local supply and the potential for barley production provided growers with another option. 

Ms McIntyre said having access to a good local market certainly made growing barley an option worth considering for central Queensland growers. Barley could provide a valuable alternative winter rotation with its good stubble cover and lower nitrogen demands.