TC's farm thread.

[pursefattener]

Interesting thread TC . Unfortunately we are price takers with regard to milk prices . I supply Murray Goulburn , a co-op . Went to a suppliers meeting the other day and heard about the latest joint venture in China to add value so sounds good etc . The board seems to know what it's doing . Record prices forecast for the coming season ....the usual speil etc..

What do you think of the rise in fert prices ?

Do you know much about the ethanol industry and what likely effect that will have on agribusiness ? In Australia at least....

Listened to an interesting show on ABC radio the other day about it and there was a representative from the feedlot association mentioning some rather large likely consequences...You would have noticed what has happened to corn prices in the US of late ?

No good worrying about what you cannot change .

Have you read Kiyosaki's latest book "Why we want you to be rich" ?

Shawn

 

[adam31]

hi
'perma'nent agri'culture'. No use fighting nature!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sohI6vnWZmk
And we think we have rainfall issues!!!

5 Minute video pretty cool stuff.
How much do you think GM foods will help, in regards to the use of fossil fuels.

 

[topcropper]

What do you think of the rise in fert prices ?
Do you know much about the ethanol industry and what likely effect that will have on agribusiness ? In Australia at least....

Fertilizer prices? Not terribly worried. Oil and grain are now linked. Fertilizer has risen due to rising oil prices. Grain has risen because ethanol is now so lucrative. Urea has risen just as much as grain.

Ethanol? It's mainly the US who have gone nuts about ethanol. This has lifted grain prices. The US used to export more grain than the rest of the world put together. Now a hell of a lot of that will be turned into fuel. Higher Grain prices will make nearly all other foods more expensive.

How does an Aussie dairy grower get more for his milk to compensate for higher grain prices? Just hang in there. Agriculture is in for a big re-weighting of it's importance I reckon. Global warming, oil, falling water aquifers, ethanol, China, it's all pointing to increasing demand and reducing supply. Look at farm land values in the last few years. It's the smart money getting set.

Why would you want to be doing anything else?

See ya's.

 

[topcropper]

How much do you think GM foods will help, in regards to the use of fossil fuels.

GM foods won't help much at all in general. That's unless they work out how to genetically modify crops to fix N. Then it would be revolutionary.

GM crops that fixed N would be the greatest thing ever for the environment, and saving fossil fuels.

It would be bad for farmers incomes though. Food production would increase, especially in the third world where farmers can't afford high enough fertilizer rates. Increased production would drop prices. Every time food production has increased, farmers profits decrease.

I thought a cure for cancer would have been found by now. Maybe N fixing plants won't happen ever either.

See ya's.

 

[topcropper]

Just got a new camera. A Canon, EOS 400. Took it down the paddock.

This is a few weaners we are fattening....

We are not really graziers. Our farm income is 97% grain. 3% beef cattle. We have 25 cows though, and a Limo bull.
The cows are a bit of a mixture. Bit of Heroford, Angus, and even a dash of dairy. As I said, we are not graziers.
I like having a few cattle, although they are a nuisance at times.

Our season has turned from ordinary, to good, as you can see.
The cattle are grazing on oats. Planted in late March. Graza 68 variety.

We will start planting wheat next week. We plant a bit later on the Liverpool plains than other areas.
We get bigger, later frosts here. And unlike other areas, we have deep moisture holding soil, and rainfall that increases going into summer, so there is no real need to plant very early, and have a bigger risk of frost causing a wipeout.

See ya's.

 

[WinstonWolfe]

Good looking cows....
Can you Toll Express one to me? dressed....
would do the Muslim knife thing myself, but might freak the neighbours out....they aren't Muslim, and mightn't understand the multicultural thing.......
Just got a new deep freeze.

 

[our obsession]

OMG that is a beautiful sight, look at that land, that feed, nice country, great picture, nice cattle!

 

[LynnH]

I had forgotten how GREEN grass looks!!

Cheers
LynnH

 

[sailor]

Love cows...they have such amazing faces and gentle natures.

 

[geoffw]

Love cows...they have such amazing faces and gentle natures.

...and tasty body parts

 

[geoffw]

TC

Thanks for that- I didn't realise such green grass still existed in this dry continent.

But, regarding the picture:

1. It's a little big. It requires a bit of scrolling- I have 1024 by 768, max res on this computer, and can't see it all. (there are ways to make it a little smaller, easily- just ask).

2. I think the grass in front is in excellent focus- but the cow is slightly not quite sharp. I'm not sure why- if you have an autofocus camera, it should put the centre of the picture into focus. It hasn't.

 

[AlmostBob]

TC

Thanks for that- I didn't realise such green grass still existed in this dry continent.

But, regarding the picture:

1. It's a little big. It requires a bit of scrolling- I have 1024 by 768, max res on this computer, and can't see it all. (there are ways to make it a little smaller, easily- just ask)..

http://www.irfanview.com [file] [batch convert] [web 800*600]

2. I think the grass in front is in excellent focus- but the cow is slightly not quite sharp. I'm not sure why- if you have an autofocus camera, it should put the centre of the picture into focus. It hasn't.

cameras assume the brightest centre part of the image is the main point. Bossy is dark, the sky and grass are light, with aus sunshine are very bright, the camera has chosen a light section to bring into focus. Kodak have a menu choice for multi-point focusing Kodak steal everyone of their ideas from Canon so there should be something similar, that works better, in the Canon. If not, reducing the aperture size, Fstop, manually will increase the depth of focus.

 

[topcropper]

But, regarding the picture:
.

It's one of the first photos I'va taken with new camera. The options are almost unlimited. I will have a fiddle with everything. I will try to reduce the photo a bit.

See ya's.


ps. There. That's better. Now, as it's smaller, ya can't quite tell it a bit blurie either.

 

[Eee]

wow - what a marvellous thread TC and everyone else.

I am on a few hundred acres in south eastern NSW. We farm technology rather than crops, but still familiar with joys and mishaps of farming.

Water licences - apparently some farmers are having (low) offers made on their licences by water authorities. Don't know if they are compulsory. A farmer a couple of blocks up has had this happen. Interestingly it appears to be the faremrs that use their licences rather than those who have minimal or no use that are getting the offers. I guess if the water authorities get the "being used" licences back they will save more water than getting unused licences back. Although it will create more trouble for the farmers.

Love your pride and joy tractor TC.

We are in the market for a 2nd hand tractor but it is just for slashing (weeds, work areas and snake prevention) and making air strips. Hard to come by anything other than the 50 year old falling apart sorts out here. Then new they are $120K plus. Not sure what we will get.

 

[pursefattener]

Should have been scrounging about at clearing sales over the summer . I saw some great deals on second hand machinery . Even the dealers had sharpened their pencils......

Well....we have had some rain here every day for the last week or so . Looks like it could be a wet winter .

Pay outs to dairy farmers look like they will be up by 25-30%

A good farm sold near us the other day at 15800 a hectare

Had a go at posting a picture up here but havn't worked out how to get it small enough yet ?

 

[topcropper]

I've had an amazing few days. Thankfully we were on the edge of the big storm that hit the Hunter and Newcastle. We only got 104 mills. The last 40 mills ran off, so we didn't need that much. Head 50 ks south, and 200 mills was a common figure. Up to 400 mills in the centre of the storm.

There was enough rain to bring down all the creeks. Creeks that hadn't run water for years, and that previously were regarded as permanent. I spent my youth in these creeks, but my kids had never really seen these creeks running, except for the odd time.

These photos show a creek coming down on Friday. This doesn't happen like this very often. In a normal time, if a creek is flowing, a big storm just adds to the flow. However, when the creek is dry, all the holes are empty. This allows the water to build up as it fills each hole, and the end result is you get a wall of water coming down.

This photo is just before the water came down. There were about 15 of us standing on the bridge. We knew it was coming as you could hear it upstream.

Then just a minute later, here it comes,...

Then 5 minutes later, it looks like this,...

Today, in the sunshine, I took the kids to a nice spot and we had a play. They have never had much time with the creek with water in it. It's mostly been dry in the last 6 or 7 years. They were pretty happy. Tomorrow we will invite some friends around and have a BBQ.

The creeks came down Friday. Saturday morning we woke to the mountains covered in snow!

See ya's.

 

[topcropper]

Woke up Saturday morning, and the mountains just near me were covered in snow. The last time it was like this was in 1984. This was the view over my wheat stubble paddock, just near my house,...

Got in the 4 wheel drive and headed up for a closer look. Kids thought it was great.

Thank god I only got a bit over 100 mills. My good luck is continuing. 200 mills or more and the paddocks would have been ripped to pieces, even with all the stubble cover.

I feel for all the people in the Hunter who have been hit with this disaster. I am truely sorry for the numerous deaths.

The Murray Darling should get a bit of inflow from my parts. Most of the water however is heading down the Hunter River.

See ya's.

 

[our obsession]

These are fantastic pics Topcropper/Toppicturer your farm (and surroundings) looks beautiful country.

Your kids are so cute and beautiful too, and snow is fun...love it all.

This looks like great horse country.

 

[topcropper]

Your kids are so cute and beautiful too, and snow is fun...love it all.
This looks like great horse country.

Fortunately, my kids get their looks and blond hair from their mother.

I'm trying to tell them how bad horses are, but it's not working. They always watch 'Saddle Club' on TV. I've got them into dirtbikes, as it would have to be a lot cheaper, but I'm not sure how long I can contain their horse enthusiasm.

See ya's.

 

[ani]

Great pics TC, that creek filling is amazing and gorgeous kids too