Moree cotton growers celebrate first season in years with no drift damage
For the first time in many years, Moree cotton growers Kim and Prue Byrnes have not experienced crop damage from herbicide spray drift.
"Usually we have a field that will get affected by spray drift, and this year was actually our first season that we didn't have any spray drift on our cotton," Prue said.
"So, I think farmers who don't grow cotton are starting to understand that you can't spray 2,4-D in summer in the Gwydir Valley; the message is getting out, which is good."
Fifth-generation farmers Kim and Prue, along with their father, Bernie, farm more than 6000 hectares between Mallawa and Rowena, southwest of Moree, in the North West Plains region.
The eldest of four daughters, Kim returned to the farm 12 years ago and was joined by Prue in 2022.
Under the Wirrillah Partnership name, they produce winter crops of wheat, barley, chickpeas and faba beans, and summer crops of irrigated sorghum and cotton.
The rotation depends on soil moisture, commodity prices and the presence of herbicide resistant weeds.
"We like incorporating faba beans into our rotation because it puts nitrogen back into the soil," Kim said.
"It is a good rotation crop for our soils, we have found the ground to be softer and rejuvenated for the following year and, with urea prices being so high at the moment, it's a really important part of our rotation."
The
Byrnes planted 200ha of Sicot 606B3F cotton - chosen for its better
disease tolerance and more even establishment - in 2024-25. Photos: Supplied
The
Byrnes also run a small herd of about 100 Red Angus breeders which are
joined to Red Angus bulls to produce weaners for the trade and sold
through saleyards at Gunnedah or Dubbo, or to feedlots at Inverell.
The cattle graze on native grasses, leased stock routes and crop stubble in summer when conditions are dry.
Soil types across the four properties include heavy black clay soils and a small area of red loam soils on some ridges.
Average annual rainfall is about 525mm and highly variable, ranging from less than 100mm recorded in 2019 to more than 700mm in 2021.
"Dad talks about how the 1970s were very wet years but were highly productive, Prue and I hope we are entering our 70s era in the 2020s," Kim said.
Bernie began growing cotton in the 1980s. He gradually expanded the area planted to cotton and they typically grow about 500ha, depending on water allocations.
The water is drawn from Copeton Dam via Moomin Creek and applied to crops using a siphon flood furrow irrigation system.
They planted 200ha of Sicot 606B3F cotton - chosen for its better disease tolerance and more even establishment - in 2024-25.
Preparation for the crop was meant to begin in January but wet conditions delayed ground preparation.
They were still pulling hills in August after spreading 300kg/ha of Cotton Blend, which contains a blend of phosphorus, potassium, zinc and nitrogen.
Kim said they applied a little over half of the crop's nitrogen needs as anhydrous ammonia in late September, guided by soil tests, and planting began in late October.
The Byrne family farm more than 6000 hectares between Mallawa and Rowena, southwest of Moree, in the North West Plains region.
Using a Norseman planter kitted out with Precision Seeding Solutions gear, Prue planted the cotton at 16 seeds to the metre on 1m row spacings, with the aim of establishing 12 to 14 plants per metre.
The fields were watered up on schedule, but heavy rainfall a month later presented an unexpected challenge.
A storm dumped 250mm of rain, causing an extremely high amount of tailwater to back up on to the tiny cotton plants.
"At one stage we were getting 80mm an hour, so it was a lot of rain, very, very quickly," Kim said.
"We were pumping water off irrigation paddocks. The cotton nearly drowned because the pumps were struggling to keep up with the rain."
Urea was spread in-crop at 200kg/ha and cultivated in just prior to Christmas and the Wirrillah team settled into a routine of watering the crop every two weeks.
Kim said the mild summer and cloudy weather around Australia Day caused some shedding of fruit.
Learning new lessons
The wet start to the season followed by high rainfall in December was the likely cause of increased disease pressure from verticillium wilt, especially in two fields that were planted back-to-back with cotton because of logistical constraints with water delivery.
"If we didn't have the verticillium that we have in the soils at the moment, we would be growing the best cotton we've ever grown this year," she said.
"We should have been hitting 15 bales of cotton per hectare this year.
"But with the disease presence, we'll probably be back around the 12 to 13 bales per hectare.
"In some areas there could be yield losses upwards of 25 per cent.
"Prue and I didn't know much about the full effects of verticillium until this year's crop.
"Now we are deep diving into research and making it a top priority going forward - we want to be growing great quality cotton for generations."
Pest pressure has been low, with only one mirid spray needed early in the season.
Problem weeds include feathertop Rhodes grass, milk thistle, and barnyard grass, with tests showing the presence of herbicide resistance in grass weeds and milk thistle.
Aircair Aviation has applied two aerial sprays of thidiazuron and ethephon to defoliate the cotton.
Picking set to start
Kim and Prue are now looking forward to picking in late April for the first time in a while.
"The last few years, post-flood in 2022, a cold start in October 2021, it just meant that our planting has been pushed back, and therefore picking, like everything, just gets pushed back further and further," Kim said.
"And when you're picking in May and June, it's never a good time.
"It's cold and wet and you don't get very long picking days.
"So it's good that this year we'll be picking at the end of April, which will be nice."
The cotton modules will be sent for processing to the Namoi Cotton Moomin gin, which is just 35km away, near Collarenebri.
