A COMBINATION of innovation and experience has kept farming profitable for Brentwood farmers Mark and Deb Anderson, Moskill.
Living near the foot of the Yorke Peninsula and having an average rainfall of about 400-millimetres means water conservation and weed control is key to ensuring successful yields.
"We have to make the most of every millimetre of rain we get," Mark said.
"Traditionally we have always sown in late May but we probably look to start seeding three weeks earlier now.
"We haven't dry sown yet but I wouldn't discount doing it in the future."
The Andersons changed to using a no-till system four years ago and have used press wheels since 1990.
Mark said no-till had led to lower weed germinations and press wheels had kept moisture in the furrow, where it could be utilised by growing crops.
An Easysteer autosteer unit was purchased 18 months ago and was used for the first time this year to implement seeding in rows "up and back".
Mark said it was much easier to use this system to spray alongside as well. Because half of their crops are sown on rocky ground the autosteer has also helped to reduce driver fatigue.
Mark and Deb run a mixed enterprise cropping wheat, barley, peas, lentils and hay and cross 600 Merino ewes to White Suffolk rams.
While barley is their biggest crop, disease problems with net form of net blotch have meant the Andersons have increased the amount of wheat grown.
"We grow Maritime and Flagship," Mark said. "This year we've had lots of problems with the net form of net blotch in Maritime ? it seems as if the adult resistance of this disease has totally broken down. We've sprayed all the barley twice so far with fungicide."
About 700-hectares of owned and sharefarmed land is cropped, and rotations are tailored to suit soils and any weed problems.
A continuous cropping program is run on sections of the farm with grey loam soils.
Mark said ryegrass is the biggest weed problem on-farm and most of the "farm decisions" revolved around how to control it.
"We grow pastures or lentils, spray top, have a break crop or graze it heavily to control it," Mark said.
Hay production is also used as a control method.
"In the two years we've been using this as a control method it has made a huge difference," Mark said.
"We're getting very clean crops and we can use less spray, which is great."
Mark said he was also looking at purchasing a chaff cart in the future for further control.
"When we grow lentil crops we burn the trash to control resistant ryegrass," he said.
This year 100ha of medic, vetch and oaten hay was cut for hay.
Rain has meant some of the hay that was already cut has spoiled, but Mark said he was happy to trade this off for a good finish.
This is the first year Mark has baled hay himself, after he bought a second-hand baler from an ex-contractor at Pakenham, Victoria.
Mark has used Ardrossan-based agronomists Cindy Thomas and Craig Wissell from 'Team Wiss' for the past three years. He said using an agronomist had added another dimension to the varieties, chemical usage, fertiliser and rotations he used.
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