Today at work

Not my pic, stolen off FB, but I’ve had this happen before.
This is extreme “shot & sprung” grain

1B705D79-A572-4875-9D4E-4C7D43857276.jpeg
How far away is harvest 6 weeks will it have much effect on it??
 

Farmer Roy

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
NSW, Newstralya
How far away is harvest 6 weeks will it have much effect on it??
the wheat was ready for harvest early November, it was a Prime Hard bread wheat / milling variety, it has already lost all its quality, is shot & sprung, will only be "feed" grade ( ie sh!t ) IF we get to harvest it. I expect the straw to rot at water level ( high temps / high humidity remember ) and fall over. I am not expecting to harvest it.
The Durum ( I was aiming for DR1 grade, which is the highest quality durum & was worth $600 / t a month ago ) was still at the milky dough stage when it started raining 3 weeks ago, so i was quite hopeful it would be ok. However, now that it has stayed wet for so long, and considering that even if it doesnt rain again I have another 2 weeks of water flowing through, I now dont expect to harvest it either.
The young grain sorghum & dryland cotton I planted in October, initially i was quite optimistic about ( even pleased at the water as it was like a free irrigation & would guarantee the crop through to harvest ), has been totally submerged for too long now & I have written it off as well.

So, the only real option is to hope I can get back on to the country by January & plant it all down to Mungbeans & Sunflowers, for an income mid next year, otherwise the next option is a winter crop ( wheat, durum, chickpeas, canola etc etc ) next year with no income for another 12 months
,
 

Muddyroads

Member
NFFN Member
Location
Exeter, Devon
the wheat was ready for harvest early November, it was a Prime Hard bread wheat / milling variety, it has already lost all its quality, is shot & sprung, will only be "feed" grade ( ie sh!t ) IF we get to harvest it. I expect the straw to rot at water level ( high temps / high humidity remember ) and fall over. I am not expecting to harvest it.
The Durum ( I was aiming for DR1 grade, which is the highest quality durum & was worth $600 / t a month ago ) was still at the milky dough stage when it started raining 3 weeks ago, so i was quite hopeful it would be ok. However, now that it has stayed wet for so long, and considering that even if it doesnt rain again I have another 2 weeks of water flowing through, I now dont expect to harvest it either.
The young grain sorghum & dryland cotton I planted in October, initially i was quite optimistic about ( even pleased at the water as it was like a free irrigation & would guarantee the crop through to harvest ), has been totally submerged for too long now & I have written it off as well.

So, the only real option is to hope I can get back on to the country by January & plant it all down to Mungbeans & Sunflowers, for an income mid next year, otherwise the next option is a winter crop ( wheat, durum, chickpeas, canola etc etc ) next year with no income for another 12 months
,
And we complain about weather events here! How frequent are floods like this for you?
 
the wheat was ready for harvest early November, it was a Prime Hard bread wheat / milling variety, it has already lost all its quality, is shot & sprung, will only be "feed" grade ( ie sh!t ) IF we get to harvest it. I expect the straw to rot at water level ( high temps / high humidity remember ) and fall over. I am not expecting to harvest it.
The Durum ( I was aiming for DR1 grade, which is the highest quality durum & was worth $600 / t a month ago ) was still at the milky dough stage when it started raining 3 weeks ago, so i was quite hopeful it would be ok. However, now that it has stayed wet for so long, and considering that even if it doesnt rain again I have another 2 weeks of water flowing through, I now dont expect to harvest it either.
The young grain sorghum & dryland cotton I planted in October, initially i was quite optimistic about ( even pleased at the water as it was like a free irrigation & would guarantee the crop through to harvest ), has been totally submerged for too long now & I have written it off as well.

So, the only real option is to hope I can get back on to the country by January & plant it all down to Mungbeans & Sunflowers, for an income mid next year, otherwise the next option is a winter crop ( wheat, durum, chickpeas, canola etc etc ) next year with no income for another 12 months
,
Sorry to see / hear that, your business must be far more resilient than a lot of UK businesses including mine, a lost harvest would not see me in a good place. Good luck, hope you can get it in.
 
the wheat was ready for harvest early November, it was a Prime Hard bread wheat / milling variety, it has already lost all its quality, is shot & sprung, will only be "feed" grade ( ie sh!t ) IF we get to harvest it. I expect the straw to rot at water level ( high temps / high humidity remember ) and fall over. I am not expecting to harvest it.
The Durum ( I was aiming for DR1 grade, which is the highest quality durum & was worth $600 / t a month ago ) was still at the milky dough stage when it started raining 3 weeks ago, so i was quite hopeful it would be ok. However, now that it has stayed wet for so long, and considering that even if it doesnt rain again I have another 2 weeks of water flowing through, I now dont expect to harvest it either.
The young grain sorghum & dryland cotton I planted in October, initially i was quite optimistic about ( even pleased at the water as it was like a free irrigation & would guarantee the crop through to harvest ), has been totally submerged for too long now & I have written it off as well.

So, the only real option is to hope I can get back on to the country by January & plant it all down to Mungbeans & Sunflowers, for an income mid next year, otherwise the next option is a winter crop ( wheat, durum, chickpeas, canola etc etc ) next year with no income for another 12 months
,
I feel for you that's a right barsteward
How big a area is affected by it how's harvest further away going
 

Farmer Roy

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
NSW, Newstralya
And we complain about weather events here! How frequent are floods like this for you?

on a VERY rough average, we get floods every 10 years or so ( a large part of north west NSW is basically deep rich alluvial floodplains, which were originally grasslands like the North American prairies or South African veldt, the landscape was formed by rivers & many thousands of years of periodic flooding ) & we expect them, quite often they can be very beneficial as they rehydrate the landscape & it is part of the natural order of millenia. However, the last time we had one this big was November 2000. This flood isnt over yet, but in 2000 my wheat was completely submerged for 3 days. When you look at the landscape, that is an unfathomably VAST amount of water. In 2000, the catchment upstream from us had their annual average rainfall in 3 weeks. We havent had that yet . . .
 
Last edited:

quattro

Member
Location
scotland

Farmer Roy

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
NSW, Newstralya
Sorry to see / hear that, your business must be far more resilient than a lot of UK businesses including mine, a lost harvest would not see me in a good place. Good luck, hope you can get it in.

believe me, its not what i had budgeted / borrowed money on, especially after 3 years previously of extreme heat & dry & no income. Last year allowed us to pay some bills & give the banks the confidence to continue backing us. This year was MEANT to really reduce our debt & give us a real boost. It was the perfect combination of a good season, good potential yields & high grain prices. We were going to be KINGS :ROFLMAO:

however, Ive always said nothing is guaranteed until the money is in your account
 

Muddyroads

Member
NFFN Member
Location
Exeter, Devon
on a VERY rough average, we get floods every 10 years or so ( a large part of north west NSW is basically deep rich alluvial floodplains, which were originally grasslands like the North American prairies or South African veldt, the landscape was formed by rivers & many thousands of years of periodic flooding ) & we expect them, quite often they can be very beneficial as they rehydrate the landscape & it is part of the natural order of millenia. However, the last time we had one this big was November 2000. This flood isnt over yet, but in 2000 my wheat was completely submerged for 3 days. When you look at the landscape, that is an unfathomably VAST amount of water. In 2000, the catchment upstream from us had there annual average rainfall in 3 weeks . . .
As said above, you clearly have to be very resilient. Not much good for livestock either! Hats off to you for being able to deal with it, in every respect.
 

Farmer Roy

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
NSW, Newstralya
How much rain has it taken to flood like that ?

if you see an earlier post, i said we had about half our annual average in the last 3 weeks.

300mm over many thousands of square kilometres is an absolute shitload of water.

this isnt just local water, its flowing through from upstream & will continue to flow for another 2 weeks even if it doesnt rain again

we are on plains country, as i said also, so it is quite flat out here on the cropping country
 

Speedstar

Member
Location
Scottish Borders
if you see an earlier post, i said we had about half our annual average in the last 3 weeks.

300mm over many thousands of square kilometres is an absolute shitload of water.

we are on plains country, as i said also, so it is quite flat out here on the cropping country
Seen that before in the states rain Hundreds of miles way & when is gets on the flat land it can be just like a sea water as far as you can see on both sides of the highway
 

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