Season delivers bumper silage results

After more than a decade, opportunity growers from Gowrie New South Wales have jumped back into corn silage to replenish drought feed with outstanding yield results.

For Matt Wilson, his brother and their mother who run and operate ‘Lowestoft’ near Gowrie, the opportunity arose to plant dryland corn to fill up silage pits which had been utilised during the 2017-19 drought.

“We’ve only ever grown Pacific Seeds corn – we’re an opportunity grower, not a year-in-year-out grower, so it was last planted in the 08-09 summer,” said Matt.

“We’re very pleased we chose to plant Pacific Seeds’ PAC 606IT given the successful yield result at the end of the season.”

In consultation with their agronomist Sam Gulliford of Pinnacle Ag, the Wilson’s decided to grow PAC 606IT due to its suitability to supply quality corn silage under dryland conditions.

“PAC 606IT met more than many of our expectations,” Matt said.

“When we plant corn it’s for silage, for drought mitigation for our cattle, and we try to lock in 12-15t/acre to meet our expectations – anything over is a bonus”.

Known as a tough corn hybrid suitable for both dryland and irrigation, PAC 606IT delivers for multiple end uses including feed grain and silage production, giving growers flexibility across the market. 

A robust disease package combined with the Imidazolinone-tolerant (IT) trait, adds reliability and weed control options.

A new addition to the Wilson family’s farming plant also played a part in the crop’s performance alongside their use of PAC 606IT.

“We bought a secondhand precision planter, so we used that for the first time – the germination and seed placement has been great, and it was a lot better all around,” Matt added. 

Located on the New England Highway near Gowrie, the Wilson family were extremely pleased with the success of their season. 

“One of the reasons we haven’t planted for a few years is because we haven’t been able to get a favourable season – that’s been a fairly significant factor.”

“Before planting we look at the long-term weather forecast and make our decision based on that. Fortunately, this season worked out well.”