Farmer Roy's Random Thoughts - I never said it was easy.

Farmer Roy · Jan 10, 2019

yeah, roly poly is a native plant on our open black soil plains, looks & acts a bit like the "tumble weed" you see in US cowboy movies

yes, it is VERY much considered a weed, which is why I made the comment

but then, what is a weed ? :scratchhead:

if a plant is performing a land scape function ( or if a cow will eat it ? ), is it REALLY a weed ?

yeah, don't worry, I don't have any answers either, just using this long term hot / dry weather & enforced inactivity to question EVERYTHING that I thought I knew . . .

I never said it was easy

Kiwi Pete · Jan 10, 2019

Yale said:
It’s important to remember that a new baby is just that,so long as it gets its basic needs seen to it will be fine.

The little’un Is almost irrelevant to how the parents cope with the situation.

I feel sleep deprivation has a lot to do with things becoming challenging,it removes your patience and creates stress.

A farmer down the road told me before we had ours,if it is crying,got a clean bottom and fed then take it to the furtherst room in the house and ignore it for half an hour.....

There is also the excitement of being a new parent and this is what happened with us.

First child,everything set up in the other room,baby monitor honed and tuned in.

Second child,that damn baby is crying,everything’s OK,switch the monitor off for 10 mins.

Third child........didn’t even set up a monitor.....

Exactly! Amazing how quickly you go from being a person in your own right, to an "extra"

I think it is a major ingredient in PND, for mums and dads... plus after the novelty has worn off, you get to see your true friends for how they are.... many just don't make much effort once they realise you aren't going partying etc anymore.

And inkeeping with the current tones on TFF, it's good to see them go! At least you find out who still cares about you.

Farmer Roy · Jan 10, 2019

Yale said:
Remind me,wasn’t roly poly what you considered an invasive weed?

Is it a native plant to your area?

one of the reasons that Roly Poly is considered a weed ( apart from the fact that stock don't seem to eat it ) is that thick clumps of it ( its an annual, or acts like one anyway, so dies off in the winter ) seem to restrict any other growth underneath it. But then, as an arable farmer, maybe this is acting as an effective weed suppressant mulch ? Dunno, but I do know from contract planting for others, especially if just roughing in some forage oats or something in pasture country, that the soil under dead roly poly's always seems moister & more friable . . .
dunno, as I said, I don't have a clue - just re questioning everything that I thought was right . . .

Kiwi Pete · Jan 10, 2019

Farmer Roy said:
yeah, roly poly is a native plant, looks & acts a bit like the "tumble weed" you see in US cowboy movies

yes, it is VERY much considered a weed, which is why I made the comment

but then, what is a weed ?
if a plant is performing a land scape function ( or if a cow will eat it ? ), is it REALLY a weed ?
yeah, don't worry, I don't have any answers either, just using this long term hot / dry weather & enforced inactivity to question EVERYTHING that I thought I knew . . .

I never said it was easy

I used to think thistles were a scourge.

Some bright spark in Aussie taught me to see things a little differently - now they are my tree-substitutes, mineral pumps, protectors and doer-uppers of soil in trouble.... so I have learnt they are only there to do a job that isn't being done by anything else.

I think @Dead Rabbits may have had a bit to do with it as well.

Yale · Jan 10, 2019

Kiwi Pete said:
I used to think thistles were a scourge.

Some bright spark in Aussie taught me to see things a little differently - now they are my tree-substitutes, mineral pumps, protectors and doer-uppers of soil in trouble.... so I have learnt they are only there to do a job that isn't being done by anything else.

I think @Dead Rabbits may have had a bit to do with it as well.

I don’t know whether I could cope with actually encouraging thistles.

One valid reason for not having too many thistles is orf on lambs seems to spread rapidly when they get spiked by the thistles........however with rotational mob stocking this scenario may be reduced. :scratchhead:

cows sh#t me to tears · Jan 10, 2019

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.sm...-deaths-in-darling-river-20190110-p50qjq.html
Not making light of the kill

, but f**k this is funny

typical green politician, meanwhile the farmers just carry on

holwellcourtfarm · Jan 10, 2019

Farmer Roy said:
so, following on from my rant
guess who has a tax liability that is being paid off by a payment plan with the ATO, finalising in Dec 19, because I couldn't afford to pay it off ?

- Applicant(s) to prove they meet the Regional Investment Corporation's policy stating funds are not permitted to be used to clear tax arrears. Confirmation to be provided in the form of ATO ICAS statements that show any outstanding tax liability has been repaid in full prior to loan funding & settlement

FFS, nothing is ever easy is it

Sounds like most of the high street banks here

"We need to see that you have adequate collateral before we can lend to you". If folk had that, starting out, they wouldn't need a bank loan!

Different if you're a multi-billion pound government services contractor though, you can be massively over-extended and hiding the fact using "reliable" auditors (all 4 big firms have been caught doing this here to facilitate their hugely profitable management consultancy arms getting work for the same companies

).

holwellcourtfarm · Jan 10, 2019

Kiwi Pete said:
Fairly similar, as I understand it. They're both bromes.
From what I've seen on FB, brome really seems to have a decent growing season length, which is becoming more crucial all the time... will be interesting to see how it goes here!
The last few years haven't suited fair-weather farming methods so well, been too 'fair'; something that a little extra diversity should help.

"Sterile Brome" and "Blackgrass" are major arable "weeds" here but are very resilient and could probably just be grazed out if there were more grazing livestock on arable units .....

Farmer Roy · Jan 10, 2019

holwellcourtfarm said:
Sounds like most of the high street banks here

"We need to see that you have adequate collateral before we can lend to you". If folk had that, starting out, they wouldn't need a bank loan!

Different if you're a multi-billion pound government services contractor though, you can be massively over-extended and hiding the fact using "reliable" auditors (all 4 big firms have been caught doing this here to facilitate their hugely profitable management consultancy arms getting work for the same companies ).

ahh, but this isn't a bank - dealing with banks is easy
this is Government backed & funded "drought help" - just refinancing some ( max 50% ) existing debt at a lower interest rate ( 3.58% ) to try & reduce monthly interest bill
if I was just after more credit, I'd be talking to a bank

holwellcourtfarm · Jan 10, 2019

cows sh#t me to tears said:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.sm...-deaths-in-darling-river-20190110-p50qjq.html
Not making light of the kill , but f**k this is funny typical green politician, meanwhile the farmers just carry on

Decaying fish can be pretty rank.....

The EA fisheries evidence freezer packed up years ago and nobody noticed for 6 weeks.......
...... Until the student opened it to add some more

He vomited as well

holwellcourtfarm · Jan 10, 2019

CornishTone said:
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you do that!

I’m surprised the helicopter could lift the weight of all those people and the pilots balls!

And I bet he didn't even brag about it afterwards.

Helicopters and their (competent) pilots are a whole new class of cool compared to plank pilots

Farmer Roy · Jan 10, 2019

This is a neighbours field that was planted to dryland cotton late Oct / early Nov ? on VERY limited moisture . . .

This field is right next to it, planted at same time, but better moisture. Still struggling though . . .

And this is my Sorghum planted in Dec, immediately next to the first pic

everything is struggling in the heat . . .

I mentioned earlier to kiwi Pete about how the depth of soil varies depending if you are in the middle of the plain or on the edge. This pic highlights the difference that soil type & depth makes. I am standing on the edge of the plain, the bare area is lighter soil before getting into the heavy black stuff, & the soil is shallower as just behind me it starts to rise up into a rocky island ( you can see it to the left of the above pic ) with a different soil type ( the remnants of the original geology before the valley filled up with silt & became an alluvial floodplain )

holwellcourtfarm · Jan 10, 2019

CornishTone said:
Thought this might be of interest to one or two. It’s a project I’ve been involved with for the last 3 years by running one of the trial sites. This is the final piece of work with the case studies all written up. It’s very specific to our region of course, but gives you a feel for our area and how people run their enterprises.

I’ve tended to think it’s a bit of a feel good project to keep a couple of people employed and allow the MLA to pat themselves on the back. There’s limited robust science within it, but it may throw up a few ideas.

Let me know what you think.

http://biggroup.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/BIGG-Pasture-Case-Studies_ONLINE-FINAL.pdf

Some interesting reading in there Tone. I doubt most UK farmers would (currently) know nearly as much detail about what they grew and its cost but that is one of many things that will have to change here.

There is clearly plenty of "thinking outside the box" going on in the face of the current climatic unfair advantages you are all facing.

In terms of the format the document is nicely readable with a useful amount of detail that can be easily "glossed over" if the reader wants to.

Well done.

Farmer Roy · Jan 10, 2019

cows sh#t me to tears said:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.sm...-deaths-in-darling-river-20190110-p50qjq.html
Not making light of the kill , but f**k this is funny typical green politician, meanwhile the farmers just carry on

holwellcourtfarm said:
Decaying fish can be pretty rank.....

The EA fisheries evidence freezer packed up years ago and nobody noticed for 6 weeks.......
...... Until the student opened it to add some more

He vomited as well

to be fair, he's not a bad bloke & one of the few pollies Id give the time of day
he is the ONLY politician to have consistently sided with & campaigned for local farmers here in our protests, struggles and arguments about coal mines ( see me posts earlier about Shenhua & Adani ) & CSG exploration. He has consistently backed not only local farmers, but farmers everywhere in their battles with the resources companies, in stark contrast to the pansy National Party pricks who claim to support farmers ( who ARE their support base ) but who in reality all get jobs as advisors to the resources industries when they retire. pansies. They are despicable & I despise them. All the conservatives, Nats & their city mates the Libeals, are just hard hearted far right big business loving pansies. Unfortunately, the main opposition, the Labour Party, seem incapable of even organising a root in a brothel at the moment . . . The way the Liberal / National Party have been behaving the last couple of years Labour should be a shoe in, but they seem to have the knack of snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory . . .

at least he talked to the locals

this is how the NSW Water Minister viewed the situation & addressed the local concerns

onthehoof · Jan 10, 2019

Farmer Roy said:

Just shows how big Aus is that half the country is driest on record and a good bit is wettest.
Don’t you just want to lasso that blue bit and drag it further East

Farmer Roy · Jan 10, 2019

that blue bit, apart from the very north, is all VERY low rainfall, extremely hot desert country. As that's based on % of average rainfall, they may still have only had a few inches, not actually a lot of rain . . .

Farmer Roy · Jan 10, 2019

ABC Landline
SpSonSsoSredS
SS
· 12 mins ·
Now that's an Australian injury...

Rhys was getting into his car on a 45-degree day and was instantly branded by his seat belt!

It's slowly healing, but looks nasty.

...
: Rhys Bryson and his girlfriend, who took the photo.

See More

hendrebc · Jan 10, 2019

Karliboy said:
Things are going reasonably well thanks. And the mrs is good just complaining she’s struggling to reach and shave things. I don’t know wether to laugh or cry.
Baby is currently in breach but there’s still 7weeks to go so still time her to change position.
Mrs finished work just before Christmas’s which people though early but she is self employed horsey girl and office folk we find don’t understand how hard it can be for her full time shovelling and lifting let alone battleing with fudging dopey horses.
She used to spend 2 days a week in wales down your direction at st Martin near Oswestry working with Arab horses and another day in Whitchurch too for sir ranulph fines (how ever it’s spelt) wife.
I’m starting to look forwards to the baby now especially now the days are lenthening and it’s certainly helping with my mental health issues and I’ve reeled in my drinking some what with it too.
Cheers for the interest it’s much appreciated.
Regards
Karl

Good to hear everything is going well

I remember he shaving problem

my wife just stopped and never started again after unless it's a special occasion and she needs to wear a dress

Think everyone had pretty much covered everything you need to know. Especially Yale and not worrying about crying. They are really hard to break and are much tougher than you think

Remember if you need to talk I and I'm sure everyone else on this thread would be happy to help if you just send a pm

Keep us posted

CornishTone · Jan 10, 2019

holwellcourtfarm said:
Some interesting reading in there Tone. I doubt most UK farmers would (currently) know nearly as much detail about what they grew and its cost but that is one of many things that will have to change here.

There is clearly plenty of "thinking outside the box" going on in the face of the current climatic unfair advantages you are all facing.

In terms of the format the document is nicely readable with a useful amount of detail that can be easily "glossed over" if the reader wants to.

Well done.

Thanks, but I can’t take credit for any of the writing. I merely managed the trial site and told them what I thought they should be measuring and looking at.

cows sh#t me to tears · Jan 10, 2019

Farmer Roy said:
to be fair, he's not a bad bloke & one of the few pollies Id give the time of day
he is the ONLY politician to have consistently sided with & campaigned for local farmers here in our protests, struggles and arguments about coal mines ( see me posts earlier about Shenhua & Adani ) & CSG exploration. He has consistently backed not only local farmers, but farmers everywhere in their battles with the resources companies, in stark contrast to the pansy National Party pricks who claim to support farmers ( who ARE their support base ) but who in reality all get jobs as advisors to the resources industries when they retire. pansies. They are despicable & I despise them. All the conservatives, Nats & their city mates the Libeals, are just hard hearted far right big business loving pansies. Unfortunately, the main opposition, the Labour Party, seem incapable of even organising a root in a brothel at the moment . . . The way the Liberal / National Party have been behaving the last couple of years Labour should be a shoe in, but they seem to have the knack of snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory . . .

at least he talked to the locals

this is how the NSW Water Minister viewed the situation & addressed the local concerns

The thing that is pìssìng me off though, is once again it's all the upstream irrigators fault. Never do SA get a mention that they had 100% allocation on july 1st. No lifting ever seems to get done down there....... once menindee drops below 480gl it reverts to mdba control. Of course they bare no responsibility for this ill conceived notion of keeping the lower lakes artificially fresh......With minimal engineering they could stop the 1.2 million megs of evaporation from there. If Adelaide actually used its desalination plant and charged its customers a little bit more, another million megs could be retained......but what do we get on this??? Silence....instead, its ALL upstream users fault....

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