Brett Jewell of Kaniva said, “Our sowing program is nearly done with about 100ha to go, haven’t got much in the ground this week due to the wet weather, but we won’t send that away. Canola and beans are up and the first of the wheat is coming through now. We have double-knocked most of the weeds this year which has done a great job but has required a lot more time on the sprayer. We also had issues with sowing through last year’s straw which cause some headaches, but I think that has been an issue for a few. Our early lambing ewes have finished lambing, so we will be marking lambs in the next week or so and crutching those ewes.
“We still have some xb lambs from last year to sell, but they got boxed up with the lambing ewes, so they have had to stay there. The early break has enabled the green feed to get away, so we haven’t been doing any supplementary feeding to date but will start as the cold of winter has slowed the growth in a lot of our pasture.
“We have not sown down any sheep feed for this year as we didn’t expect the break to come so early, but what has germinated from last year’s set will be sufficient,” Brett concluded.
Diapur’s Tom Cook said, “We finished cropping in time to get some good rain on all emerging crops. It took a few bigger rain events to get all of the crop to germinate. Some of the heavier soils and patches that came up cloddy from sowing needed a larger rain to surround the seed with moisture to begin germination.
“This year was a good example of how well the knife point and press wheel combination works with marginal rainfalls; we managed to get the majority of our crop to emerge on not much rain and a drying soil profile. Since finishing sowing, it’s back to fertilising, spraying and looking after sheep. Soil tests came in with plenty of nitrogen following last year’s legumes, and lots of mineralization too from last season’s rain. Nice to have plenty of nitrogen up our sleeves.” Tom said.
Matt Rohde said, “Having a bit of a break at the moment, have had a few wet days to spend in the workshop. Just have bits and pieces of spraying and spreading to do. Getting ready to head away over the school holidays coming up.”
Lawloit’s Lewis Bothe said, “Just the usual chaos out at our place. Seeding is almost wrapped up, which is good. With the rain over the past week, the seeder has come to a stop waiting for the paddocks to dry out. Just a little bit more barley to go. Most of the lambs have been marked; we have been happy with percentages so far.
“We have our Dohne and Merino lambs to do next which are for our self-replacing flock and looking forward to seeing how they perform. Apart from that, all’s pretty good and everyone’s looking forward to a bit of time off once lamb marking and seeding is done.” Lewis said.
This article appeared in the Nhill Free Press & Kaniva Times, 21 June 2023.
