LA Slarke & Co, Lake Grace WA

​We run a mixed farming enterprise in Lake Grace W.A. cropping 4,800 ha including wheat, barley, oats, canola, lupins and field peas, as well as 2,000 breeding merino ewes. 

What are your views on Harvest Weed Seed Control and how does the Seed Terminator fit into your farming system?

​We started testing for herbicide resistance in 1994 and found some ryegrass resistant to Su’s and Fops. We treated all ryegrass as resistant from that point on. We used whatever method we could manage/afford to implement with the objective of minimising weed seed numbers.  These methods included rotation, minimum till, brown manure, windrow burning, high rates of trifluralin, increased seeding rate, chaff cart and finally the Seed Terminator.  Whilst we have been keeping our weed seed numbers at non yield impacting numbers, every method of control had some negative drawbacks. We believe the Seed Terminator is the most effective and efficient way to deal with harvest weed seeds and residue.

Which wearing parts did you replace last harvest and how many hours did you do with the Seed Terminator? ​

​We did roughly 560 hours with our Seed Terminator last year and wore out a full set of mills.  We changed the gearbox drive belt once.  The mills would have completed more hours if we had disconnected them (a 30 min job) whilst harvesting peas, as they received a lot of sand.  In future we will disconnect the terminator whilst harvesting any crop that has been desiccated, as it is so easy to do and will prevent unnecessary wear.

How do you think you will feel when harvesting a weedy patch this year?

Happy in the knowledge that there will be minimal weed seed set occurring the following year in the affected patches.

You've decided to purchase a second unit as well as upgrade your MY17 Seed Terminator, what influenced this decision? 

​It became apparent after taking on more land this year that we would most likely require another header to ensure we maintain an optimal level of efficiency during harvest.  We actually bought the Seed Terminator before purchasing the header, as after last year’s success with our Seed Terminator, we now see this as an integral part of our harvest machinery and therefore would be fitting it to any header that we decided to purchase. We also chose to update our MY17 Terminator as the MY18 draws 31% less power and it keeps both units uniform for ease of maintenance.

​What do you see as the future of this technology? ​

​The future is exciting.  We don’t see the concept changing much, however we see wearing parts lasting longer and the power consumption becoming less.

^ Nick Berry, Jamie Slarke , Harry Slarke and Kim Slarke checking out the Seed Terminator