RIVERINA farmers are racing the clock to strip the whopping 2016 crop.
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Harvest activity is estimated to be up to three weeks later than what is was last year.
In fact, most people in southern NSW had finished stripping, wheat, canola and barley by this stage in 2015. A couple of cease harvest orders – due to extreme weather – and some devastating fires added to the challenge of bringing in the crop this year.
About 2500 hectares of crop at Oaklands was burnt out this week and earlier in the month another large-scale fire took hold near West Wyalong.
The Oaklands blaze destroyed a shearing shed plus two vacant farm houses.
RFS Riverina planning officer Jonty Bruce said a plane dumped 44,000 litres of water on the blaze which is estimated to have travelled close to 15 kilometres. Bethungra producer, Bill Muller of Nunlong mainly runs livestock but he said grazing crops were the best he had seen in 62 years. “The saying rolling in clover certainly applies this year,” he said.
Mr Muller said the abundance of feed plus good prices for livestock boded well for mixed farmers. However, he conceded wheat prices were not as good as many growers would have liked. He estimated that the big crop – in terms of tonnes – might help to mitigate some of the lower prices. “The way things are going in this area I would say everyone will be finished harvest, or close to it, by Christmas,” he said.
Anthony Quinn of “Kellerslea”, Ganmain completed the harvest of winter crops on his place earlier this week. He was pleased with how things were looking for canola, wheat and barley.
Earlier on his crop of Corack wheat wont he Ganmain Show wheat competition before going on to earn top honours in the Agricultural Societies Council (ASC) western division prize. Mr Quinn said the Corack wheat looked really good and he was pleased with how it had progressed throughout the growing season.
“It was really pleasing and the yields overall have been good … it was quite a good harvest,” he said. Chief forecaster, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Science tips the winter crop haul will be 32 per cent higher than last year.
