The Baxter family from Picola picked up an award for hay making. Scott and Dianna are pictured with Billy, Harry and Grace.
A Picola farming family is among the national winners of a hay production competition, in a seasonthat marked a return to good growing conditions.
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Growers from NSW, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia shared the top honours in the 2023-24 Feed Central National Hay Quality Awards, presented during the Australian Fodder Industry Association conference in Coffs Harbour.
The Accredited Supplier Award went to Scott and Dianna Baxter and family from Lislea Lodge at Picola.
The Baxters run a predominantly cereal cropping enterprise, with canola, wheat and barley, and produce lucerne hay, mostly in large squares.
Feed Central managing director Tim Ford said all winners had excelled in the competition.
“Making hay is never easy and making good hay is a real skill so the winners deserve a pat on the back for their success,” Mr Ford said.
The Feed Central National Hay Quality awards include both national and state winners for visual appearance and feed test covering the three major hay types: vetch, lucerne and cereal.
Mr Ford said the 2023-24 hay making season produced substantially better results than the previous year.
“The big three — cereal, lucerne and vetch — all had vastly improved quality and, until recently, good supplies,” he said.
“The previous year was impacted by wet weather but the 2023-24 season offered really good hay making conditions which can be seen in the results.
“Feed Central inspected more than 300,000 tonne of hay during the financial year, making the efforts of the winners even more impressive.”
The 'big three' of hay — cereal, lucerne (pictured) and vetch — all had "vastly improved" quality in 2023-24 compared to the previous season.
The national best visual appearance for cereal hay was won by the Bell Group, from Narromine in NSW; for lucerne hay by Wade Alexander and family from Riverleigh, Queensland; and vetch hay by Fitz Farming, from Griffith in NSW, with contractor Kenlock Cropping.
The best feed test analysis national award for cereal hay went to Laurie Williams and Angela Sutherland from More Rain Downs at Keith, SA, with contractor Cloverhill Farms; for lucerne hay went to Wade Alexander and family from Riverleigh, Queensland; and for vetch hay went to Canitya Farms from Murrayville, Victoria.
The heaviest cereal bale at 770kg was grown by Harry Divall from Carrick in NSW, and the heaviest straw bale at 589kg was grown by Gus Thompson of Oakben Agricultural Co from Rawsonville, NSW.
The Feed Central National Hay Quality awards recognise and encourage growers to aim for high quality hay.
Hay listed with Feed Central in preparation for sale is inspected on-farm by a certified Feed Central inspector and is eligible for entry in the competition.
State award winners will be announced and presented on-farm during a national growers’ tour in August.
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