Bale is the Awnless wheat offering flexibility for hay or grain production, with a Slow Spring maturity to add diversity on farm in higher frost risk areas.

Bale was developed from pre-breeding germplasm produced by CSIRO in a Scout background that was distributed to breeding programs by Dr Greg Rebetzke. The objective was to provide growers with real options for managing frost risk zones by ensuring different harvest strategies could be deployed in Spring, as required. Dual purpose wheats need adequate grain yield and quality, suitable hay yield and quality and to be awnless to be accepted by many hay markets. The Mid North High Rainfall Zone research effort led by Agrilink’s Mick Faulkner has identified the most promising selections for dual purpose Hay/Grain development from these novel awnless wheats.