What makes a good modern spinner cut? Some tips from PIT farmer Paul Price
They don’t need to be deep - design them to your flow rate. The faster your flow the deeper they can be. With 10 ML flows on Tim’s bay they were only a few inches deep. If you have faster flow, experiment with a greater depth.
Keep them clean all year round. They need to be clean to work effectively and in winter to get benefits as well. When cleaning them out don’t make them deeper - just buzz out the grass.
Get the spacing of the spinner cuts right. Paul’s rule of thumb is for the two outer spinner cuts in each bay to be 7 m in from each check bank. Then evenly space the remaining spinner cuts at 10 to 14 m apart, depending on the bay width.
Start the spinner cuts 10 to 15 m from the top of the bay to allow water to spread across the bay before reaching them.
Run the spinner cuts all way down the bay to the bottom drain
Keep practicing and have patience - work out what works best for you.
They are not just to fix dodgy bays. They will really improve the performance of freshly landformed country too.
Picture: PIT farmer Paul Price with the spinner cuts he helped Tim & Lyndal implement on the Humphris Partner Farm.
