Malcolm Doolin, North Star, NSW

Among the most successful chickpea growers in the 2002 season was Malcolm Doolin of ‘Glenhoma’, North Star who was selected as ‘Chickpea Farmer of the Year 2002’ by Pulse Australia. 

Malcolm uses a Gyral 12 metre Penetrator Scari-chisel with a Gyral Quad Cart Seeder to farm his 9,300 hectares. He direct drills, using curved tynes, 500 lbf breakout and a controlled traffic configuration on 2 metre centres, Malcolm uses the Penetrator to plant all his crops, which include wheat, barley, chickpeas, sorghum and faba beans. 

His 2002 winter crop was planted deep, seeking out what moisture was available. He planted into moisture, at around 150mm, knowing that with vigorous seed and the right equipment he would get a good strike. Malcolm says that if it wasn’t for the Penetrator he would not have had all his planting done at his preferred time. It allowed him to plant his chickpeas in mid May, which helped the crop escape some of the hot spring conditions.

It was Malcolm’s attention to detail that gained him the crop judge’s attention, that, and a winning crop yield of 2.5 tonnes/hectare - excellent for the season and above average for the area.

Andrew Hirst, Tara, QLD

“Provided you can get it down into some moisture, planting wheat at the ideal time for your preferred variety is far better than waiting for planting rains, and then taking a chance on what seed is available.”

Andrew Hirst uses his Gyral Penetrator to plant into the available moisture at the correct time for the variety. This not only gets the best out of the variety but also gets better results from any subsequent rainfall.

Andrew’s 12 metre Penetrator Scari-chisel is fitted with 500 lbf breakout, curved tynes on 333mm spacing and in-frame press wheels to improve seed/soil contact. The unit is used in conjunction with a Gyral Quad Cart SR pneumatic seeder.

Andrew is “stoked” with the rig’s ability to maintain accurate depth and has found that the Penetrator’s higher breakout pressures are ideal for direct drilling into tough field conditions.

In late 2002, Andrew planted sorghum in a paddock that had suffered severe pugging damage with 200 cows and 200 weaners grazing sorghum stubble in the muddy conditions following 75mm of rain at Easter. Before a fall of some 75mm in early August the ground had been so hard “you couldn’t get a moisture probe into it.” 

The versatility of the Penetrator came into its own with reversible chisel points fitted to initially bust the clay pan, and later fitting sweeps to smooth the ground over. Planting on 15mm rainfall in early October resulted in a near perfect strike of double skip row sorghum.

Andrew sums up the effectiveness of his Gyral by saying “If you can get the seed down into moisture, you just know it’ll get out of the ground.”

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