TC's 2013 Farming Thread

[topcropper]

TC. I tried to find the 2013 farm thread. It doesn't appear to be here. Perhaps time for some updating?

Here's a brief summery then.

Had a cracker of a sorghum crop last season. Hot dry start, then rain on Christmas day, then a wet January and February with almost half a years rainfall over those two months had one of the biggest crops we've grown. We averaged 8.5 tonnes to the hectare. Add to that the totally unexpected situation of China buying half a million tonnes of Australian sorghum for the first ever time to turn into alcohol, and it was a great period on the farm. Prices and yield were great.

Since then though, it's been tougher. Planted wheat into the harvested sorghum stubble. It's had just 80 mills since and will be a poor crop. Might go 2 tonnes per hectare. Oh well! can't win em all?



The wheat is now filling, and will be ready for harvest in a month. It will be the worst wheat crop we've grown for years. But prices should be OK, as not much wheat in northern NSW and QLD due to the dry.




One new thing going on with me is that I've planted cotton for the very first time.



Just 20 hectares to see how it goes. This crop would almost definitely be the most easterly crop in NSW and may also be the most easterly cotton crop ever planted in NSW. Although there would be more easterly crops in QLD on the Darling Downs.

It was planted 3 weeks ago, dryland, into some nice soil moisture, Came up OK, and It will be interesting to see how it goes. The little plants have been above ground for 10 days and are about 2 cm across. The cotton is genetically modified, so it can be sprayed with roundup for weed control and is heliothus and bug resistant, so shouldn't need spraying with pesticide.

Genetically modified cotton has been a game changer for the whole industry. Non GM cotton needed to be sprayed with pesticide weekly, and weeds were a nightmare with chippers needed to manually chip out the tough weeds. These days it's pretty easy to grow and there's no way I'd have ever planted cotton if it wasn't GM.


Just waiting now for some rain to plant our sorghum crop. There was 14 mills yesterday but that won't be enough. Will be putting in about 750 hectares. Hoping China turns up again and they are a bit thirsty!


See ya's.

 

[geoffw]

Thanks TC.

I've taken the liberty of taking this post from the old thread and creating a new thread.

 

[amy21322]

Hi TC,
Keep it going....love to read all those updates, and to see what's happening down on your property, and elsewhere in the rural sector.
The previous thread was enjoyed by most of us here, and this one will be no different, I'm sure.
Best wishes
Amy

 

[topcropper]

OK. So it's been more than 6 months?

Anyway, soon after the last post, 22nd November we had a massive flood. 200 mills for the day, and 240 mills for November. We wanted rain, but not that much. Young cotton doesn't like it being too wet.

With all the rain, we managed to get the wheat harvested, and the sorghum planted. Planted 750 hectares of sorghum. Then it turned hot and dry!

Bugger all rain for the rest of the year. However, with all the rain in January and February and November 2013, we ended up with above average rain for the year of 2013, about 750 mills.

January 2014 was also hot and dry. Then fortunately, it cooled down and we had a wet February and March.

Photo of cotton on the right and sorghum on the left, in late February.





Photo of the fruit, or bolls as they are called,





I sprayed the cotton a few days ago to defoliate it and open the bolls ready for picking.





Should be ready to pick in a few weeks. We have a contractor coming in to pick it with a massive $800,000 machine that puts the cotton into bales wrapped in plastic. I really don't know what the yield will be? But my agronomist thinks it might go 5 bales to the hectare? It's worth about $500 a bale, so that's a gross of $2,500 per hectare. However cotton costs a lot more to grow than other crops, so I'll have to take perhaps $1,300 to $1,400 per hectare off the gross in growing costs. A lot of that is royalties to Monsanto for the right to grow their genetically modified cotton seed that is bug and roundup resistant.

In comparison, the sorghum across the track yielded 7 tonnes per hectare, and is worth about $280 per tonne. But only costs about $500 per hectare to grow. I think the sorghum that we've been growing for 40 years or more will still be the most profitable?



We are currently harvesting the sorghum with our own grain harvester.





Growing the cotton was a good experience. The best bit is being able to spray it with roundup for weed control. I'll post a picture in a few weeks of the cotton being picked.


See ya's.

 

[D.T.]

TC

My parents recently bought 70 acres of subdivided land in WAs wheat belt. They're looking to lease back 65 acres of it. What sorta dollars have you seen in your neck of the woods for this sorta thing?

 

[topcropper]

TC

My parents recently bought 70 acres of subdivided land in WAs wheat belt. They're looking to lease back 65 acres of it. What sorta dollars have you seen in your neck of the woods for this sorta thing?

Depends on the quality of the land. Around here land that's worth $3,000 per acre might lease for $120 to $130 per acre per year.


See ya's.

 

[Anh]

Hi TC,

Always interested in reading your posts especially with those pics. If you have a blog about farming, i will subscribe

Pls keep us updated.

Ta

Anne

 

[topcropper]

Had a small frost yesterday, and then a big frost this morning. This was the first frosts of the year. It was anticipated and planned for. That means the cotton and sorghum if it wasn't finished growing would now be dead! The first frost and last frost are major dates on any grain farm and all crops are grown depending on the usual frost times. The frost was right on time, and it will be useful in cleaning up summer growing weeds. Frosts that occur too early can cause massive damage. In the spring an early frost will wipe out a wheat or barley or any other winter growing crop during flowering. The crop will still grow, but have no seed. And an early frost in autumn kills outright a summer growing crop like sorghum, corn, cotton or sunflowers. The first frost in autumn here generally occurs around about ANZAC day and always has.


See ya's.

 

[topcropper]

The cotton was picked last week. Went about as well as expected. A bit less than 5 bales per hectare. It was an easy picking. The contractor turned up with his million dollar machine, and off he goes punching out the bales. We didn't even need to be there if we didn't want to.

Some pictures.

















As sorghum prices have dropped a bit, the cotton will return about the same as the sorghum crop. I will probably grow it again as it was all very interesting.

The cotton is still in the paddock. Another contractor will come along and take the bales to a gin, where the cotton lint is separated from the seed and trash. In a typical round bale, there is 40% cotton lint, 50% seed, and 10% trash. Generally the ginning is paid for by the sale of the cotton seed, which is used as feed for sheep and cattle.

The whole process of growing and picking now is so different to just 15 years ago. It used to be a big job keeping weeds at bay. Chippers were used several times a year at enormous cost. Now it just gets a few roundup sprays. Heliothus grub required sometimes 10 sprays with insecticide, now none. The picking process needed 3 or 4 men, and now just one. Probably a typical example of why rural areas have seen declines in population as the workforce is just not needed anymore.


See ya's.

 

[pursefattener]

Generally the ginning is paid for by the sale of the cotton seed, which is used as feed for sheep and cattle.

How do you ensure that there is no chemical residue in the cotton seed when it is sold ?

In the past there has been a lot of trouble with this by product coming into Victoria as stock feed and I think back in the 90s there was a ban on it or something ...

Nice photos .

 

[The Fence]

How do you ensure that there is no chemical residue in the cotton seed when it is sold ?

In the past there has been a lot of trouble with this by product coming into Victoria as stock feed and I think back in the 90s there was a ban on it or something ...

Roundup...?

I thought it was harmless to animals..?

 

[topcropper]

How do you ensure that there is no chemical residue in the cotton seed when it is sold ?

In the past there has been a lot of trouble with this by product coming into Victoria as stock feed and I think back in the 90s there was a ban on it or something ...

Nice photos .

Nearly 20 years ago there was a massive problem when cotton seed was fed to sheep and cattle in Australia and contaminated the meat. The cotton was sprayed with an insecticide for controlling heliothis grub, called Helix (chlorfluazuron), It was banned soon after.

Now that cotton is genetically modified, it doesn't need any sprays for heliothis grub, and for weed control gets a few roundup sprays. It's unlikely that the cotton seed would contaminate cattle again these days.


See ya's.

 

[Banvard]

I thought it was interesting that there is still a noticeable amount of cotton left on the plants after picking by the machine.

What happens to the leftovers? Is it economically viable to harvest what is left with other methods?

 

[topcropper]

I thought it was interesting that there is still a noticeable amount of cotton left on the plants after picking by the machine.

What happens to the leftovers? Is it economically viable to harvest what is left with other methods?

It does look like there is 10% left behind. But it's an illusion. Be more like 1 or 2%. Experienced cotton growers know this. I'm a newby but I still knew it would look like there was a lot of cotton left.

The contractor is ready for a newby to ask about how much cotton is left in the paddock. So the offer is that he will go over the paddock and pick it again, and if he gets another bale, the job is free. If he doesn't get another bale, the farmer has to pay the contractor by the hour. If the farmer is silly enough to take on the picker, after a few hours he will see that there is still hardly any cotton and say

"Yeah, I think we will give it a miss eh?".


See ya's.

 

[pursefattener]

Quote:
Originally Posted by pursefattener

How do you ensure that there is no chemical residue in the cotton seed when it is sold ?

In the past there has been a lot of trouble with this by product coming into Victoria as stock feed and I think back in the 90s there was a ban on it or something ...

Nice photos .

Nearly 20 years ago there was a massive problem when cotton seed was fed to sheep and cattle in Australia and contaminated the meat. The cotton was sprayed with an insecticide for controlling heliothis grub, called Helix (chlorfluazuron), It was banned soon after.

Now that cotton is genetically modified, it doesn't need any sprays for heliothis grub, and for weed control gets a few roundup sprays. It's unlikely that the cotton seed would contaminate cattle again these days.


See ya's.


Great , years ago we used to feed cotton seed to cattle as it was relatively cheap at the time and they could be on a self limit basis . Haven't used it in over 20 years . Last time I enquired it was uncompetitive .

Hope your business is having a great year !

 

[topcropper]

Great , years ago we used to feed cotton seed to cattle as it was relatively cheap at the time and they could be on a self limit basis . Haven't used it in over 20 years . Last time I enquired it was uncompetitive .

Hope your business is having a great year !

Cotton is moving further south and further east every year as genetic and management improvements allow. My farm in NSW is as far east as it's ever been grown. It's now being grown in north west Victoria. As it gets closer to your farm, it will get more competitive for feed use as the freight cost will be less.


See ya's.

 

[pursefattener]

What else is happening on the Liverpool plains at this time ?

How are you managing the fluctuations in grain pricing at the moment ?

What do you think will happen in the Black Sea area of Europe in regard to exports of grain out of there ?

 

[lizzie]

... and those cotton bales are so cute lookin'

 

[topcropper]

What else is happening on the Liverpool plains at this time ??

We have 2 days sorghum harvest left. We would have finished today except for some rain over the weekend.

We have some nice grazing oats in to fatten the weaners. Actually it's that bloody good that we bought some extra steers to try to eat it down. There was some great rain in Feb and Mar, and now some warmer than normal weather and the oats has loved it.

How are you managing the fluctuations in grain pricing at the moment ?

What do you think will happen in the Black Sea area of Europe in regard to exports of grain out of there ?

Grain prices are still good. Prices have been good for 6 or 7 years now really. Not complaining. We really don't do a hell of a lot regarding grain pricing. Doing nothing is often the best as in the high yielding bumper years often have low prices, and low yielding, higher, so it's a bit of a hedge anyway.


See ya's.

 

[topcropper]

... and those cotton bales are so cute lookin'

Never heard em called cute before? They weigh nearly 3 tonnes by the way? We don't even have anything that would lift them.



Photo of the cotton picking on Cubby Station, QLD.





See ya's.