WHEAT HARVESTING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 January 1940, Page 3

WHEAT HARVESTING

USE OF HEADER. QUESTION OF MOISTURE CONTENT At a recent meeting of the Wheal Committee it was decided to issue a warning to all wheat-growers to exercise particular care in the harvesting o! their wheat this season. The regulations provide for a maximum moisture content of 15.5 per cent for milling wheat. Any wheat with higher moisture must not be accepted by millers for milling purposes. Apart from the consideration of personal loss, however, the grower has a duty to the public, especially in war time, to ensure that no risks are taken with such al valuable foodstuff as wheat.

Any wheat stored with a moisture content of more than 15.5 per cent runs a grave risk of deterioration in store, with consequent loss to the grower and the State.

This year large numbers of new header harvesters will be in operation, and those growers who are heading wheat for the first time are liable to make serious mistakes if care is not exercised. Until some experience with heading has been gained it takes a lot of courage for a grower to stand aside after his wheat has become binder ripe to await the right moment for heading. His whole soul rebels at leaving the crop to stand beyond the stage where for years he has got into it with the binder, but plenty of advice is available from the Agricultural Department, Wheat Research Institute, brokers and millers, as to what he should do.

As in previous years, the Wheat Research Institute will open a moisture testing station in Ashburton, besides the one in Christchurch, as soon as the demand arises. Any grower desiring to know if his wheat is fit to thresh or head need only rub out a 2oz. sample, enclose same in a tabocco tin sealed with adhesive tape, and post the same to the Wheat Research Institute at Ashburton or Christchurch. He should advise the institute whether he requires the reply by letter, telegram or telephone. and the Wheat Research Institute will do the rest. The service is free. In preparing a moisture test sample, growers should walk through the field pulling sufficient heads at random without any conscious selection whatever, and immediately rub the grain out and place it in the sealed tin. When the heads are secured they should not bo loft lying about before being dealt with. Any officer of the Agricultural Department will be pleased to give advice, as will also representatives of growers and millers.