Bumper barley yield for club

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Mid Canterbury Vintage Machinery Club president John Stewart says the latest barley straw harvest...
Mid Canterbury Vintage Machinery Club president John Stewart says the latest barley straw harvest from the former Tinwald saleyards holding paddock is the best in three years. Photo Struan Christie
An eight-hectare holding paddock at the former Tinwald saleyards is still paying dividends for Mid Canterbury machinery fans.

For the third year in a row the Mid Canterbury Vintage Machinery Club has harvested a crop of winter barley from the site. And this year it has been cited as the best crop ever.

Club president John Stewart said that despite the crop being hit by hail in mid-November, they were able to get 7.6 tonne per hectare of dryland yield, well up on last year’s 6.5 tonne per hectare. The 2018 yield was double the volume of the first season’s crop.

"It’s the best yield we’ve had,’’ he said.

"We’re probably still using all that fertility from the saleyards ... and we got some of the rains at the right time."

For the second year running, the crop was harvested by Greg Carr rather than by club members with their own machinery, but Mr Stewart said it was due to a shortage of available combines with many members still fulltime farming and the time involved.

Mr Stewart was thankful to the many individuals and businesses who had a hand in the successful season, among them land owner Greg Donaldson, Mr Carr, and club member Allan Martin (in charge of the agronomy), Ravensdown, Cates Grain and Seed, Rural Transport and Evans Animal Feed.

He said money raised from the sale of the crop would boost the club’s funds following the completion of the new clubrooms built at the Ashburton A&P Showgrounds.

The saleyards, now owned by Greg Donaldson, closed in December 2016 after 138 years of operation.

 

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