Woke to gentle rain this morning. We have been planting wheat all week and I went till 9 pm last night as I thought it could be wet in the morning. I don't think there will be much usefull rain in it though.
It's been very dry on the Liverpool Plains for months now. All the big rain has missed us. We have had lots or rainy days, lots of drizzle, lots of cloud, but there just has not been a big total amount of rain here. It's been very wet to the north, west, south, and extremely wet to the east of us, but we have unfortunately missed the good falls. Talk so far is for a great winter cropping season for Australia, with reasonable prices. But there is also talk of the El-nino redeveloping and causing another dry season.
We got a tremendous summer, with way above average rainfall, that gave us a second bumper sorghum crop in a row. But autumn was dry. We got only 64 mills for the 3 months, when average rainfall should have been 130 mills. June rainfall has been poor too. As a result, we won't be able to plant as much as we want to, unless there is a decent fall of rain soon, at least 25 mills.
A photo of us planting wheat a few days ago,.....
This block is 220 hectares. It's planting very nicely, it's going into great soil moisture, and the seed should germinate nicely even without rain. We are planting into sorghum stubble. The sorghum was harvested in March this year and yielded 7 tonnes per hectare.
This paddock last had wheat planted in it 2 years ago, Jun 07, harvested Dec 07. It then had sunflowers planted Jan 08, harvested June 08. Sorghum planted Oct 08, harvested March 09, and now going in with wheat again.
This photo has dad driving, and I'm sitting on the airseeder cart. We are putting out 300 kgs/hectare of urea, [138 kgs N] 50 kgs/hectare of a starter compound fertilizer containing N, P, S, and Z, [about 9 kgs N, 9 kgs P, 7 kgs S, 1 kg Z.], and 40 kgs/hectare wheat seed. We plant at 10 k/h. The planter is nine and a bit metres wide
The airseeder cart holds 9000 litres of product, so about 7 tonnes of seed and fertilizer. There is a big fan that blows air back through those big hoses in the photo, and then the seed/fert gets distributed across the planter,....
This is a photo of me filling up the airseeder cart from our grouper on the truck. The grouper holds 10 tonnes of urea and 4 tonnes of starter compound fertilizer. We have the seed in a separate bin out of view,.....
This patch of dirt is our most lowest flood prone land. The last big flood over it was in Nov 2000. We had 300 mills over a week, then another 100 mills in one night, sending down a massive flood. The water was 1.5 metres deep over this entire flood plain. We had a massive profit loss that year. It was bad timing for a flood. Being November, the wheat was ripe and was destroyed, and the summer crop was just planted, just inches high, and had to be replanted at great cost. Probably our worst ever year.
There hasn't been a real big flood since, and don't want to see another, but I will.
Costs of production have dropped heaps since last year. The urea was delivered on farm for $570 per tonne, compared to $900 to $1000 last year. Roundup CT has more than halved in price, from $12/litre to $5.50. All good.
Here is a couple of youtube videos. This one from the tractor cab,.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf99yjSKr-w&feature=channel
This one with me sitting on the airseeder cart with dad driving,....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmeFTje_9sY&feature=channel
See ya's.
It's been very dry on the Liverpool Plains for months now. All the big rain has missed us. We have had lots or rainy days, lots of drizzle, lots of cloud, but there just has not been a big total amount of rain here. It's been very wet to the north, west, south, and extremely wet to the east of us, but we have unfortunately missed the good falls. Talk so far is for a great winter cropping season for Australia, with reasonable prices. But there is also talk of the El-nino redeveloping and causing another dry season.
We got a tremendous summer, with way above average rainfall, that gave us a second bumper sorghum crop in a row. But autumn was dry. We got only 64 mills for the 3 months, when average rainfall should have been 130 mills. June rainfall has been poor too. As a result, we won't be able to plant as much as we want to, unless there is a decent fall of rain soon, at least 25 mills.
A photo of us planting wheat a few days ago,.....
This block is 220 hectares. It's planting very nicely, it's going into great soil moisture, and the seed should germinate nicely even without rain. We are planting into sorghum stubble. The sorghum was harvested in March this year and yielded 7 tonnes per hectare.
This paddock last had wheat planted in it 2 years ago, Jun 07, harvested Dec 07. It then had sunflowers planted Jan 08, harvested June 08. Sorghum planted Oct 08, harvested March 09, and now going in with wheat again.
This photo has dad driving, and I'm sitting on the airseeder cart. We are putting out 300 kgs/hectare of urea, [138 kgs N] 50 kgs/hectare of a starter compound fertilizer containing N, P, S, and Z, [about 9 kgs N, 9 kgs P, 7 kgs S, 1 kg Z.], and 40 kgs/hectare wheat seed. We plant at 10 k/h. The planter is nine and a bit metres wide
The airseeder cart holds 9000 litres of product, so about 7 tonnes of seed and fertilizer. There is a big fan that blows air back through those big hoses in the photo, and then the seed/fert gets distributed across the planter,....
This is a photo of me filling up the airseeder cart from our grouper on the truck. The grouper holds 10 tonnes of urea and 4 tonnes of starter compound fertilizer. We have the seed in a separate bin out of view,.....
This patch of dirt is our most lowest flood prone land. The last big flood over it was in Nov 2000. We had 300 mills over a week, then another 100 mills in one night, sending down a massive flood. The water was 1.5 metres deep over this entire flood plain. We had a massive profit loss that year. It was bad timing for a flood. Being November, the wheat was ripe and was destroyed, and the summer crop was just planted, just inches high, and had to be replanted at great cost. Probably our worst ever year.
There hasn't been a real big flood since, and don't want to see another, but I will.
Costs of production have dropped heaps since last year. The urea was delivered on farm for $570 per tonne, compared to $900 to $1000 last year. Roundup CT has more than halved in price, from $12/litre to $5.50. All good.
Here is a couple of youtube videos. This one from the tractor cab,.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf99yjSKr-w&feature=channel
This one with me sitting on the airseeder cart with dad driving,....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmeFTje_9sY&feature=channel
See ya's.
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