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

[Farmer Roy]

Dryland Cotton hanging on ok, hadn't aborted any flowers or dropped any fruit yet, but I'm guessing within a week or two it will start dropping quite a bit if we don't get any rain . . .
Cotton does that as a survival strategy of the plant, quite a good life lesson in that if you want to get all philosophical

Last pic showing the importance of stored sub soil moisture to growing crops in our hot / dry environment. Good moisture at planting, good germination & emergence, but the roots from the trees on the left have dried out the soil profile & this is the result
Having said that, I aim to plant more trees in the future

 

[Dead Rabbits]

Sorghum hanging on ok but has lost a lot of yield potential due to flowering / grain fill coinciding with a couple of extreme heat events. This is more to do with heat than moisture . . .
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Planted some of the Sorghum in a "skip row" configuration, same as the cotton, just to see if there was any penalty in a good year, or any advantage if the season turned to sh!t

Yup she's curling on you. Looks like a 30 bu/ac crop. Always painful to watch it cook when it's flowering

 

[Farmer Roy]

yeah, we call it going / looking " pineapple ", as when its really curled up & the heads are down amongst the flag rather than up tall above the plant, it looks more like pineapples than sorghum

 

[Farmer Roy]

I have had the head " cook in the boot " in the past, basically, the head in the booting stage & temps get so hot it almost boils inside & becomes sterile . . . that is pretty extreme sh!t though . . .

 

[unlacedgecko]

Having said that, I aim to plant more trees in the future

Why?

 

[CornishTone]

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Last pic showing the importance of stored sub soil moisture to growing crops in our hot / dry environment. Good moisture at planting, good germination & emergence, but the roots from the trees on the left have dried out the soil profile & this is the result
Having said that, I aim to plant more trees in the future

In WA we used to go round the fence line with a single, very large and very deep ripper tine behind the Challenger to break most of the roots. Trees didn’t seem to suffer too bad for it and it allowed, sometimes quite large, areas to grow a crop that would usually have the water pulled out from under it.

It always amazes me just how far out a trees roots will extend.

 

[Dead Rabbits]

In WA we used to go round the fence line with a single, very large and very deep ripper tine behind the Challenger to break most of the roots. Trees didn’t seem to suffer too bad for it and it allowed, sometimes quite large, areas to grow a crop that would usually have the water pulled out from under it.

It always amazes me just how far out a trees roots will extend.

Root pruning! Been trying to convince my dad to do it on his ground

 

[Farmer Roy]

I also own some grazing country, but I considered it too small an area to bother with, wasn't that interested before, so have leased it to a neighbour for a couple of terms. However, when this current agreement ends ( in a couple of years ) I will take it back as I can now see the potential in it & integrating it with my arable land.
Went & had a look today. Hot, dry, as you'd expect. Interestingly, his cattle are doing ok. Soft cock high maintenance livestock just don't work here, being hardy & good " doers " are vital characteristics

Ok, last pic - this is going through the gate, the area on the left is between the boundary & the main ( bitumen ) road. I am not going to make any judgements or comments, but the paddock those cattle are in has been pretty much run on a set stocking basis . . .

 

[Farmer Roy]

Why?

mainly from an environmental / habitat point of view & also because in a hot dry flat land I like trees

I want to encourage shelter & habitat for birds & insects, create a bit of biodiversity. However, I will be fairly selective & critical as to where I locate them.

that above pic is a pretty extreme example in an extreme year, its not always as bad as that

before anyone asks, it is my idea to do this & no I am not receiving any grants or funds to do it. I just want to

 

[Farmer Roy]

Just so you don't think it's all doom & gloom, here's another farm just a few km down the road. This was previously all arable Cropping land, but he has since established a tropical grass based pasture, utilising panics, digitaras & a few others. His long term plan is to establish more water points & subdivision to much smaller blocks & cell graze / mob stock / rotationally graze it
First pic, cattle have been here most of the week but didn't see any today
Second pic, haven't seen any cattle in here yet
TBH - the pics don't do it justice, especially considering how hot n dry it has been

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Just so you don't think it's all doom & gloom, here's another farm just a few km down the road. This was previously all arable Cropping land, but he has since established a tropical grass based pasture, utilising panics, digitaras & a few others. His long term plan is to establish more water points & subdivision to much smaller blocks & cell graze / mob stock / rotationally graze it
First pic, cattle have been here most of the week but didn't see any today
Second pic, haven't seen any cattle in here yet
TBH - the pics don't do it justice, especially considering how hot n dry it has been

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Wow!

 

[Farmer Roy]

Oh, I nearly forgot this photo. Maybe I've tried to erase it from my memory

Some of you may remember I had problems back in August with cutworms wiping out a block of chickpeas. I cultivated it rather than spraying, with the intention of planting mungbeans in the spring, or at the very least any sort of groundcover just to get something growing to protect the soil
Anyway, there just hasn't been any moisture to plant anything ( this is why long fallow & building up soil moisture reserves is vital to our Cropping systems ) since then & the ground is still bare
At 13.00 hrs today that soil surface was so hot I couldn't hold my hand there for long. That's why I need stubble retention & groundcover. There is just no moisture or biology in that top layer of soil. It is pretty much just baked & dead

This is the antithesis of EVERYTHING I'm trying to do or achieve here
Sometimes, sh!t happens . . .

 

[unlacedgecko]

Found this on YouTube last night

 

[onthehoof]

This is the antithesis of EVERYTHING I'm trying to do or achieve here
Sometimes, sh!t happens . . .

Can’t remember you saying it was easy .......

 

[onthehoof]

Cows look well though are they being fed - Murray Greys??

Where are all the flies??

 

[Farmer Roy]

Yes, Murray Greys
He breeds stud bulls as well a commercial beef herd

As far as I'm aware, he is only giving them some barley straw. There is roughage / herbage further away, but this is closer to water . . .

Too hot for flies, they camp in the shade during the heat of the day as well

 

[Farmer Roy]

Change of topic, but Toby Price is doing awesome in the Dakar

 

[Farmer Roy]

Cows look well though are they being fed - Murray Greys??

View attachment 623698

oh, by the way, I have seen lots of fat, shiny healthy looking cattle over here on " pastures " that you lot wouldn't believe they could even survive on

Mainly British - Angus / Shorthorn / Hereford, or crosses with Bos Indicus . . .

Sims & Limos are about the only euros you see much of here, generally as a cross with a Brit

 

[glasshouse]

In WA we used to go round the fence line with a single, very large and very deep ripper tine behind the Challenger to break most of the roots. Trees didn’t seem to suffer too bad for it and it allowed, sometimes quite large, areas to grow a crop that would usually have the water pulled out from under it.

It always amazes me just how far out a trees roots will extend.

I have found willow roots up drains blocking them 50 m away under a road

 

[Kiwi Pete]

oh, by the way, I have seen lots of fat, shiny healthy looking cattle over here on " pastures " that you lot wouldn't believe they could even survive on

Mainly British - Angus / Shorthorn / Hereford, or crosses with Bos Indicus . . .

Sims & Limos are about the only euros you see much of here, generally as a cross with a Brit

I still have greenery under mine!
Think I might bring them in tomorrow and put them over the bridge and see how they're doing. I snuck up on them on foot hence they aren't all crowded round - they were all down the far end eating the clover under the toppings

It's odd how we compare things, in a way, I've actually gone visiting a few of my neighbours today just to have a yarn and make sure they're OK.

Ok is a relative term, as many of us will know - and if they are under pressure I thought maybe a young visitor with cold beer might be the medicine.
Every day is one closer to rain than the day before.