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Diesel essential portable ute packs PLASSON: Engineered for rural pipe and rural life

DIESEL ESSENTIAL PORTABLE UTE PACKS

A versatile and robust ute pack designed and manufactured in Australia to safely store and dispense your diesel. These tanks are strong and manufactured to withstand the treatment in the back of the ute. A strong, reliable Italian designed pump will deliver the diesel every time, with an auto-shutoff nozzle to ensure you don’t overfill.

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Ranging from 100ltr to 800ltr, these units are all equipped with Piusi designed pumps and are perfect for the back of the ute. The ‘Cube-style’ sits perfectly in the tub of a dual cab and can be fitted with a secondary bund for added security.

Includes: > Up to 50LPM Piusi Diesel Pump > 5-year warranty > Lockable lid – protects all components > UV protected > Earth strap > Auto trigger nozzle > 4mtr Diesel-grade hose > Isolation switch > Alligator clips From February we are including a FREE pair of ProFit Non-Slip Work Gloves with every purchase of a Diesel Essential Ute Pack. These gloves are breathable, abrasion resistant, have reinforced palms and are made for comfort, they are the ideal glove you need when handling Diesel.

To get your hands on the Essential Ute Pack from Polymaster Diesel Tanks, simply drop into your local Elders store or jump onto the Polymaster website for more information – polymaster.com.au.

The Polymaster customer service team are also a helpful bunch and more than happy to sort out any of your questions on 1300 062 064

PLASSON: ENGINEERED FOR RURAL PIPE AND RURAL LIFE

Beating the world’s toughest conditions was only the starting point for Plasson!

With over 40 years of installed history in the harshest of Australian conditions, the Plasson range of Rural Compression Fittings is the most challenging, most reliable and easiest to install of all poly pipe fittings available.

Plasson Rural Compression Fittings are based on Plasson’s unique “captive O-ring” technology. The Plasson captive O-ring fits into a machined groove inside the body of the fitting.

The Plasson captive O-ring: > Will not fall out or become dislodged. > Protected from contaminants and intrusive foreign matter. > Creates a complete water-tight seal when the red

Rural insert is pushed past the O-ring eliminating the need for excessive tightening.

This means that all you need to do is hand-tighten the Plasson nut for a completely leak-free system.

The red barb insert on each end of our rural fittings allows installation on all standard rural pipes and a range of pipe diameters. There are no special tools needed to install PLASSON rural compression fittings – just your hands. Just put the fitting on the pipe, do it up hand-tight and the job is done. PLASSON fittings are of the highest quality and meet the following standards: > AS/NZS4129- fittings for polyethylene pressure pipe systems > ISO14236 – fittings for polyethylene pressure pipe systems > AS/NZS 4020 – products used in contact with water for human consumption

PLASSON Australia Pty Ltd

Sydney: PO BOX 6163, Alexandria NSW 2015 Brisbane: 49 Distribution Street, Larapinta QLD 4110 P: 1300 752 776 - F: 1300 248 027 - sales@plasson.com.au

INNOVATIVE RURAL SOLUTIONS

The captive O-ring design is only one of PLASSON’s intelligent solutions!

PLASSON has convenient conversion kits to make switching between metric, rural, copper and PVC pipe without changing the whole fitting.

It is also easy to adapt PLASSON fittings for different pipe materials and pipe sizes and work as a threaded connection.

To view the range visit your local Elders branch.

SIVANTO® PRIME IS TOUGH ON KEY HORTICULTURAL PESTS, WITH SAFETY FOR BENEFICIAL SPECIES

The Australian fruit and vegetable industry is set to benefit from stronger and more sustainable pest control, with the launch of SIVANTO® prime, a new insecticide from Bayer.

Having been developed globally in a wide variety of fruit and vegetable crops, SIVANTO prime has shown excellent performance on a broad spectrum of damaging sucking pests.

Importantly, the product introduces a new chemical class - butenolide (Group 4D) - into key pest management programs, such as for fruit spotting bug and silverleaf whitefly. Introducing innovative and selective insecticide classes such as this is critical for sustainable pest management.

SIVANTO prime offers advantages over existing management options by offering rapid protection, flexibility for use over flowering and a good level of beneficial species safety.

BACKED BY FIELD RESEARCH

Bayer Grower Marketing Lead: Horticulture, Anthony De Monte, says it is exciting to be bringing such an innovative insecticide to market, after it has been proven by over a decade of field research in Australia.

“SIVANTO prime will be a welcome addition to the crop protection programs for growers needing new options for whitefly and aphid control in a range of vegetable crops,” Anthony says. “With the registration of SIVANTO prime in avocados, mangoes and papaya for control of fruit spotting bugs and planthoppers, growers will have an innovative and selective insecticide class to support sustainable pest management.”

After being proven through extensive field research in Australia, SIVANTO prime has shown excellent performance on a wide spectrum of damaging sucking pests, including; fruit spotting bugs, banana spotting bugs, lace bugs, aphids, whiteflies, planthoppers and for the suppression of scirtothrips.

“The product acts fast and selectively, meeting the needs in most cases of a beneficial species-safe insecticide and diverse environmental safety requirements in a range of crops,” Anthony says.

TARGETED CONTROL

Business Development Manager for Bayer in Queensland, Tim O’Grady, believes SIVANTO prime is a game-changer in orchard pest management, with its ability to work fast, but in a targeted way, which he agrees is good news for beneficial insects. “Fruit spotting bugs are controlled quickly by direct contact, however the majority of important beneficial insects like predatory mites, lacewings, hoverflies, parasitoids and lady bird beetles remain untouched,” Tim explains.

“With the registration of SIVANTO prime in avocados, mangoes and papaya for control of fruit spotting bugs and planthoppers, growers will have an innovative and selective insecticide class to support sustainable pest management.”

“This makes the product ideal for use early in the season, especially given the unique level of safety to European honey bees and Australian native bees. It also helps meet the demand for a quality pack-out, without disrupting the whole orchard system.”

SIVANTO prime shows low toxicity to Australian native stingless bees (Tetragonula spp. and Austroplebeia spp.) and European honeybees (Apis mellifera) when used as directed, and can be safely applied during the period of crop flowering. The use of SIVANTO prime may result in transient effects on bee behaviour, but is not expected to affect the performance of bee colonies or solitary bees. However, under good agricultural practice, it is recommended not to apply SIVANTO prime or any other insecticides at times when bees are actively foraging. The good level of safety for beneficial species SIVANTO prime provides is also critical in vegetable production, with the product matching the best standards for residual control of silverleaf whitefly, without being detrimental to the parasitoid wasp, Eretmocerus hayati.

“Trial work at the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries Bowen Research Station has proven this complementary fit under high pest pressure,” Tim says.

“Using SIVANTO prime early on a building pest population, where younger lifecycle stages are present, can help avoid large population peaks later in the season. “The product rapidly prevents sap feeding and honeydew secretion for both silverleaf whitefly and aphids, with the cessation of feeding happening within minutes, not hours after application.”

NEW TOOL TO SUSTAINABLY MANAGE PESTS

SIVANTO prime provides a much-needed new tool for sustainable management of these pests, and is already making an impact in the field for people such as Chris Monsour, from Prospect Agriculture in north Queensland. “It’s very important for us to have new chemistry like SIVANTO prime as an option to manage silverleaf whitefly,” he says. “It is not only important for managing the pest, but it also enables us to develop a strong, robust resistance management strategy, with the option of preserving beneficials. So, SIVANTO prime helps as part of an overall IPM strategy to manage this key pest.” SIVANTO prime is expected to be launched into macadamias, and other crop label extensions are expected to follow later in 2022.

For more information, contact your local Elders branch or browse sivantoprime.com.au for a range of resources, including field guides and experiences from the paddock. SIVANTO® is a Registered Trademark of the Bayer Group.

YIELD ASSESSMENT AND GRAZING MANAGEMENT OF MAINSTAR FORAGE BRASSICA

Mainstar is a highly palatable forage brassica, which has quickly increased in popularity over the last couple of years.

One key point of difference when compared to older forage brassica (rape) types, is its animal acceptance, which results in enhanced levels of utilisation. Mainstar has a high leaf to stem ratio and a softer, more grazable stem, which helps drive higher daily intakes and improved animal performance. To maximise the longevity and animal productivity from your Mainstar crop, the following tips to help graze and measure the crop have been developed.

1. YIELD ESTIMATION

Yield estimation is essential to developing your Mainstar feeding programme, as it will tell you how many animals the crop can carry and how long these animals will have grazing. To do this, get a 3.55m length of poly-pipe and create a circle (this will be 1m2) and pick an area in the paddock at random. Place the pipe circle on the ground and cut the plants off at ground level. Put the plants into an old seed bag and weigh the fresh weight. Typical dry matter content of brassica can vary from 12-24 per cent (pc), so either dry down a sample yourself or send a sample away to be dried to help with the calculations, then use the following equation to work out how much feed is on offer:

1.1 (Fresh wet weight of crop in 1m2) x (dry matter %) x 10,000 = kgDM/ha.

NOTE: This step needs to be repeated 3 times per hectare to get an average that represents the whole paddock.

Once you have worked out how much feed is in the paddock, you want to work out how long the paddock will last. For example, if the 10ha Mainstar crop yield is 5,500 kgDM/ha and there are 500 lambs grazing the crop, how long will the crop last?

1.2 Lambs grow best when allocated 2-2.5kgDM/hd/ day, so using this number we can work out the following: 5,500 kgDM/ha x 10ha / (500 X 2.25) = 48 days.

So, we know that this crop should last approximately 48 days. If we split this paddock into 4 equal sized breaks, the lambs should need to be shifted every 12 days. By back-fencing this crop we are letting the grazed areas grow without disruption for an extra 36 days, meaning the regrowth will be stronger than if the paddock was set stocked for the 48-day period. By back-fencing gives more control of the quality of feed the lambs get over the whole grazing period. Set stocking loads the diet with high quality at the start and lower quality towards the end as lambs start getting into the stem.

2. GRAZING MANAGEMENT

Maximising production from your Mainstar crop involves back fencing (or rotational grazing), adequate water supply and moving animals on to the next break before they have over grazed the current allocation.

Mainstar’s palatability means stock can graze it to the ground. To maximise the opportunity for regrowth, you need to move stock on to their next break, or paddock before this occurs. The ideal grazing residual is when 10-15cm of the stem is remaining with all leaf and most of the petiole removed.

Ideally you should set up your paddocks, so the lambs are being shifted onto fresh feed every 10-14 days.

3. AFTER GRAZING

Once your Mainstar forage crop is coming to the end of its life, start thinking about how you want to get that paddock back into grass. Ideally it should be grazed off quite short, allowed to freshen, then sprayed out before planting.

One option for autumn succession planting is Mohaka AR37. This new tetraploid hybrid ryegrass has similar winter activity to Italian ryegrass, but more longevity. Its late flowering date enables areas with early summer rainfall to carry high quality tetraploid feed through into early summer. Mohaka AR37 should last 2-4 years and is an ideal mix partner with herbs and legumes, such as Ecotain® environmental plantain, Choice chicory and Relish red clover.

Talk to your local Elders agronomist or Auswest & Stephen Pasture Seeds representative for more information.

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