Harvest is under way

Well this definitely has been what we would call a dry finish to the season.

We had 15mm of rain around the  12th of October which came just in time for the wheat crops, I'm not sure how much good it would of done the Barley and Canola as they were more advanced. Since then we have had nothing up until a few spits tonight which stopped the header, that is the header that only started this afternoon typical!!! I cant remember us starting Harvest in October before.

 

 

I took this shot of Ben today reaping the peas that were spray topped 9 days ago. We don't tow the chaff cart behind for the peas, as we want to keep as much organic matter left on the ground as possible.

 

We had a planning session with our agronomist Steve last week for what we are planning on growing next year. This way we know how much seed to keep back and also how much new certified seed to order. At this stage we decided on growing Fleet Barley and Scope Barley next year, and throwing out the commander. Also growing two new wheat varieties, Mace which is an excellent wheat on wheat variety and grown a lot in the district. Also Grenade which has the option of using intervix  ( GroupB). One huge advantage also with growing Grenade and Scope, is you don't have to worry about plant back restrictions after spraying intervix.

We obviously have to be very careful in our chemical choice as we do not want to build up a resistance to these very useful chemicals.

We are putting in a large area again of Canola as it seems to be our break crop of choice for weed clean up.

 

 

 Rye grass has always been a problem on this farm, and we have been trying to keep this invasive weed under control for years. Last week we found out the news through skin tests that our daughter Indy is allergic to the grass, and that it makes her skin flare up badly. So now the war is on to get rid of the stuff more than ever!!

 

Rye grass
 

The two pieces of machinery below are the oldest on the farm, both about fifty years old. The tractor is surplus to needs at the moment and is up for sale, but I love it and will actually be very sad when it goes. The fire truck  has just had an engine rebuild from Ben last week, as it was bellowing smoke and more likely to start a fire than put one out. We usually reap with two fire units in the paddock, as up until now there has always been a special technique to get the Dodge started, and I prefer having a 1000 litre shuttle on the back of the Ute filled with water as the manoeuvrability in the paddock is slightly better and I can guarantee it will start first time.

 

Carting in the last of the horses hay for the year, of course we had to do this on a thirty+ degree day.

 

 The Dodge fire truck, Ben rebuilt the  engine  last week. With help from Hugo who loves dressing in his Santa suit (that's when he is not spiderman)

 

 

 The characteristics of JNZ wheat, where it has very uneven stem length and throws up the odd long one

 

 

 

 Our wheat crops are looking good and have really benefited from the mid October rain

 

 We had 210 Ha of  Canola windrowed at the weekend, this was contracted out to a local farmer who has a self propelled windrower and can cover the ground pretty quickly. It was sprayed also with  roundup at the same time to stop the canola stalks from re greening and also to kill any late germinating weeds. We can usually reap the canola about 16 days after it iswindrowed, but it can also be safely left unreapt until last.

 

 

 

The optimum times for windrowing is when the seeds in the pod are 40 to 60% brown

Windrowed Canola

The Canola pods with some very slight hail damage that was occurred two weeks ago

The Barley on the right is fleet and has looked better  than the commander on the left all year , but as you can see from the image the fleet is turning colour quicker. It will be interesting to see the yield difference.

 

My mum is arriving next Wednesday from Scotland to help look after the kids, so that I can drive the header and relieve Ben so he can do other harvest jobs. She would of been out earlier but she has just had a knee replacement, and was told not to fly for six weeks afterwards. Who knows how she will go chasing after our little darlings. Her other jobs are chief sandwich maker, and machinery escorter.  We have our friend and truck driver Lyndon probably starting in the next few days full time for the next 5-6 weeks. Our nearest Silos are 30ks away at Wallaroo and he usually on a good day can take 5/6 loads away. Our Canola gets delivered usually to Ardrossan which is about 50 ks away. So its long hours and late finishes but starting this early we will hopefully be well and truly finished before Christmas!!

Anyway here is hoping for a hassle free and successful harvest.

( who am I kidding)

 

 

Dry spring

Well it has been three weeks since my last blog and in that time we have had no rain up until the last couple of days where we have had 4.5 mm. I can't but help recall a saying that my father in Law told me a few years ago 

 

" Rain in September is money in the bank!!"

 

So at 18mm all up for September its less than perfect  

 

The annual horses hay being cut, this time taken from a particularly bromey part of the paddock. We usually need around 800 small bales, so it is usually a huge guessing game for how much to cut. We usually ask the help of a few friends to bring them all in with payment in Scotch cans!!

 

 

 The kids waving to our friend Danny whilst he was spreading snail bait by plane on the Canola.

 

At the moment our growing season rainfall is way down on last years, and I dont think we have to worry about record yields. The crops are still quite green and the rain over the weekend will definetly freshen them up. The last few weeks have been spent monitoring crops for grubs, aphids and snails. We found some rust in the Commander barley, but at this stage we are still keeping an eye on it as we do not want to spray fungicide again if we dont have to. The Fleet barley in the same paddock has a lot less disease and also looks lusher and denser . Depending on yields we may ditch the Commander in favour of the fleet as I reckon it may be far more suitable for our sandy country.

 

Obvious visual differences with the growth regulator

 We also in this paddock trialled a growth regulator for the first time called 'Moddus' by Syngenta. We sprayed this on half the paddock over both the Commander and Fleet at a rate of 400ml per Ha at growth stage 39. It is meant to stop the losses we have with head retention, by shortening the stem in between the nodes which in turn thickens the stem making it stronger and less likely to shed its head in the wind. What worries me about it is although there are still as many tillers the lack of height in the plant does not help as far as competing out the weeds.

 

 If you look half way up this image you can see distinctly in the crop the line where the regulator was sprayed in the foreground. 

 

We found grubs in the peas on Friday so they will also be getting insecticide (Karate) sprayed on them tomorrow. The hills are starting to go off already and walking out there the other day I noticed the dreaded Namoi vetch is rearing its ugly head in them again. Hopefully spray topping it before harvest will stop most of the vetch setting seed and also help us control any grass weeds that were late germinating.

 

 

 Namoi vetch

One weed I don't think we will ever eradicate on our home block.

 

 I was looking back over my blog posts  today and realised quite how much a family affair this farm really is. Hardly anything happens on this place without the kids being part of it.  We are both lucky that we can share jobs and also see our kids during the day while we are working. Not many kids get to see their dads at lunchtime and wander down the sheds to say hello when they want to, have rides in the machinery and actually realise and understand what their parents do for a living.

 

This is generally a fairly quiet time on the farm, so the last week we spent in the Adelaide hills staying in a friends gorgeous little cottage/granny flat. We  took the kids for a week long swimming course in Adelaide and caught up with family.

 

 

One very happy couple, that know how to party!!

 

We also went to a wedding on Saturday for friends of ours Francesca and Micheal who had their reception out at Gumview Farm at Paskeville. Which is owned by our great friends Wade and Nicole Harris who operate a free range egg farm from the property. What an amazing wedding and superb location. I had to laugh at all the bridesmaids who ditched their heels right after the speeches and put their polka dot gumboots on for the dancing afterwards.  I just had to add a picture to finish with, of one of the signs around the venue,  absolute classic!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring is in the air

The crops are looking great, the kids and I have been going for walks with the dogs and checking out their progress nearly everyday. We have organised for our Canola to have snail bait applied by aeroplane, but at this stage we are waiting for another rain, to get them off the stalks and moving around.  In the last 2 weeks we have had 16.5mm of rain over five days which was much needed.  Even more needed was a bit of sunshine, which has come at last. The wheat is starting to run up to head and the peas and canola have been flowering for a while. The barley is starting to come to life again as seemed to be so slow growing throughout our colder than normal winter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twilight peas flowering

The kids just love playing in the Canola at this time of year, although I am  starting to be a bit wary of snakes starting to come out of hibernation. The amount of noise they make they should be fine though.

 

 

 

The area above is in the same paddock as the shot below. You can really see quite clearly the impact that the weeds have on the wheat early on as far as growth goes. The shot below is a good example of the early vigour the wheat has when it is not competing for moisture and nutrients with the weeds. On this paddock we put a mixture of Crusader, LVE MCPA 570, Lontrel and wetter. As you can see by the weeds dying it did the job on the tares and broad leafs but unfortunately only suppressed the brome grass. There was a mixture of brome grass, bifora, turnip, Tares, bedstraw and volunteer peas in this paddock. Unfortunately though because of the Brome we will not grow our regular barley here next year. Instead we will either grow Canola or look into growing the immi tolerant Scope barley.

 

 

 

 
This weekend Ben was in his element when 14 local dirt bike riding farmers got together and organised a ride over to the Clare Valley, this photo was taken before they all left, they came by and picked him up. All the partners and kids drove over and we met them all in Clare for lunch at the pub. We had about 26 kids the majority of them ranging from 2-6 years.



 

We passed the boys on the way to Clare so we stopped and took some shots of them riding through the side of the road track, the kids were so excited as they have never seen what Dad does for fun, as unfortunately it is not a spectator sport.

 

We may potentially cut some wheaten hay this week, and have masses of yard tidying up to do. We have been tidying up tree's as the Pepper and Pine trees around the yard (of which there are hundreds) look really scrappy unless they are trimmed, so we may have to have a bonfire before the surrounding paddocks get to dry. The Kids and I have been planting more gum trees. We were given 100 last week so it is a slow process when they both want to help plant every one. It will be testament to the hardiness of gums if they survive, as some of them were getting  yanked out their tubes, with half the roots left behind by the kids. 

 

We have our YP-AG crop field day this Wednesday, so hopefully  I can organise someone to take the kids as it is very beneficial if both Ben and I can get along and see whats new and get a few idea's.

 

Anyway here's hoping for a few weeks of sunshine and not to many northerlies

The rural womens gathering Penola

 

Last weekend myself and eight girlfriends made the seven hour drive down to Penola in the Coonawarra, for the annual  rural women's gathering. Now if Scones quilting and cups of tea come to mind then think again. This is now the third one I have been part of and they are amazing. I have come away still on a high, and inspired by many of the amazing women that I met. This is female bonding at its finest!!!!The event was sponsored by Rymill, Koonara and St Mary's wines so the wine flowed freely. The food was great and the guest speakers were entertaining and inspirational. The  workshops were a chance to learn a new skill or just relax and included a diverse range of about thirty things from cheese making to welding,  sculpting to making a brick pizza oven. I would recommend these gathering to any women out there that just need a break, and to revive themselves. We laughed non stop, and learnt so many things. We went home with lovely gift packages filled with lots of goodies, including clinique toiletries, sparkling wine and a merino wool long sleeved T- shirt. The whole town was involved and most shops and wineries in Penola were giving discounts to all the ladies that attended, as if we needed any encouragement to hit the shops.




Lunch stop at the Henry & Rose Cafe in Keith.

One of my neighbours Tracy Browning in the Limestone carving workshop.This was so messy, big chunks kept falling off my sculpture, making it smaller and smaller all the time.

 Welding a rake workshop, where I was very partial to my suede welding jacket

My good mate Nicole Harris

 

 

Trying to tidy up my welds

 

 

Friday night with the girls

 

 

 

 Ita Buttrose on stage sharing with us her amazing story
We were so excited, we actually had our photo taken with Ita, but to my dismay the  camera they were taken on was a film camera, so chances are they will be lost forever, I cant believe anyone still uses one.

 

 

 

 Jo Fincham & Ita Buttrose two of Saturdays guest speakers
Jo you might recognise from the farmer wants a wife series, she was talking about her battle with depression and bulimia and how she has overcome both these issues.

 

 

 Our group in the wacky wire sculpting workshop

 

 

 There were not meant to be any guys allowed but a few sneaked in, who were we to turn them away

 

 

Two farming women showing that yes, we can manage some tools

 

 

 Shannon and Lisa with Bronwyn Roberts, who was a guest speaker sharing the
clinically proven benefits of laughter

Saturday nights entertainment was singer Elijah Madden who was certainly entertaining enough that a few of my girlfriends thought they would show their appreciation by dancing on the tables. At one point I reckon there would of been at least 200 women dancing with no dance floor, just up and down the isles. It looked like an episode of high school musical, just the average age a tad older.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We always go home from gatherings with lots of new friends. 

 My new buddy, I reckon she was warning me to stay off the scones

 before I developed any more chins.

 

The next gathering is in October 2013 and is being held in Port Pirie, we have actually booked accommodation already as they usually book out pretty fast.  So if you know anyone whether it be yourself or partners let them know as it is an amazing weekend.

 

 

Calendar girl

Well here we are half way through August, which is very special as I have just fulfilled my life long dream of becoming a calendar girl...cringe.... bring on September so I don't have to keep staring at myself.  Ben looks bloody massive and I have made fashion faux pas of the century wearing baseball cap and beads. We had no idea this picture would end up in  the calender of YP AG the company we buy our chemical through, what a laugh.

Over the last week we have had 24mm of rain which we are very excited about, the crops were starting to really need it.

We are putting out fungicides at the moment on Barley and just about to start the wheat. The Barley is showing signs of spot form net blotch and has been getting sprayed with Amistar Xtra and also we have found stripe rust in the Gladius wheat so that is being sprayed with Opus (Epoxiconazole).

Ben and Steve discussing one of our wheat paddocks, this was the first wheat  sown

and looks magnificent at this stage. Our other paddocks of wheat were actually sown 11 days later. In hindsight we probably could of sown a few more paddocks before we stopped sowing and waited for rain.  

The Peas and Canola are growing well. The canola will be in full flower in a couple of weeks, unfortunately the hill that has struggled for cover because of the summer fire has come to nothing, but at least seems reasonably stable from drift at the moment.

We have been having a massive bin yard tidy up, and last week the scrap man came and removed 7 old chassis bins. Unfortunately his excavator fell apart during the bin bashing and crushing process so he will be back in a few weeks to finish the job. He also pulled out our old sheep yards, ramp and spray dip that's Ben's dad John built over 40 years ago. We now have lots of empty space that we are not quite sure what to do with. Hopefully we get a big cheque at the end of it.

Any Bin marked with an X has had its day on this farm

 The kids posing for one last photograph before the old ramp was taken away

I just thought I would finish with this photo. One of our favourite things to do, Ben and the kids watching the sun going down over the paddocks

Everything is green and growing well, and we have had 11mm of rain in the last two weeks. This is topping up the moisture in the soil just nicely. Ben has been putting out Liquid nitrogen(UAN) on the Barley and a second lot on the canola as it is starting to bolt ( starting to shoot up and flower). When we were out with Steve last week we noticed that the Twilight peas were starting to get Powdery mildew, which is a fungal disease. We can control this with agriphos which we can add to the grass weed mixture when we spray out the grasses in the peas.


Commander Barley growing in between last years stubble rows

Ben was spraying broad leaf out of the wheat and barley at Tamar when he took this picture of the Dow Agriscience guys spraying the weeds in the trial plots. He had to wait for them to leave before he could finish the paddock. It was good to see we were obviously spraying the weeds at the correct time.

We signed up more wheat at $304 and Barley at $257 last week. We are pretty much at our limit for forward sales for this coming harvest for wheat. So now we can sit back and watch what the market does. The pea price is starting to look attractive, but we can never forward contract too much, as it can potentially get hailed upon, as has happened the last 2 out of 3 years.

This year we are not happy with the way the soil compacted behind the seeder. We have a tow behind box that usually causes no problems, but this year in many of the paddocks we have area's like the picture above where the compaction is stopping the plant pushing  through. Now to work out whether or not we were sowing to deep or maybe its just time to bite the bullet and either buy a new seeder or have ours converted to a tow between box. Quite a few people we know who have this configuration actually put a video camera on the box so they can see if any of the hoses have blown off. This was out initial reason for getting the tow behind box so we could actually see the bung ups and hoses, again decisions...

The Kids and I have been having lots of fun the last few weeks on the farm. We have been planting tree's round the farm and eremophilas around our extended garden. I wish sometimes that we had it fenced so there actually was a cut off point between the garden and scrub. We actually have about 15 acres of yard and Garden so its a big area to keep the weeds under control in. We have an old cottage on the farm about 300m from the homestead which Ben's Mum and Dad and three siblings lived in for about 9 years when they were first married and starting their family. It was built in the fifties, so has lovely asbestos cladding. It has not been lived in now for over 6 years. We were quoted about $15,000 to remove it because of the asbestos, so we are contemplating whether to spend that money renovating it, or just demolishing it hmmmm... decisions

What was funny though was today I was putting out a knockdown around the cottage and came across this agave with the most amazing flower. I reckon this has only grown in the last two weeks. Here are a few images of what we have been up to for the last few weeks.

The best pets ever!!!Lilly Dallas and Ginger the chickens, they are also very useful, unlike some other animals that we have . When Ben was making Hugo's birthday cake, we had to keep sending the kids down to check for eggs as we were one short. luckily they came up with the goods in the nick of time.

We had a new friend over for dinner last Friday, Clancy the 8 month old red kangaroo.

He has been adopted by friends of ours Wade and Nicole Harris.

Our newest ebay purchase, this is going to go above the work bench in the new workshop when it is built. It was pulled out of a house in Hyde Park. Someones trash is someones treasure!!

My little man Hugo turned 3 last Sunday so we organised a pirate party down at his favourite spot, Tippera rocks sand dunes with a few of his buddies. We are so lucky to have such amazing beaches close to home, and again we managed to fluke a beautiful day. Of course being winter, no flies.

Anyway we are off to the local Apex fundraiser Ball this weekend down at Barley stacks winery  near Maitland, so time time to dust off the heels and Ben to get his kilt out woo hoo.