Well things are starting to dry up in our part of the world. With the bulk of the cattle branding now completed we are busy trying to prepare cultivations for our winter cropping program. The picture of the cattle – left – was taken on one of our cultivations that has had six floods over it in 18 months.

 Half of our cultivations are out of action. Some we still can’t access due to brimming waterways. Others still have water lying on them. And a handful have provided a safe haven for livestock during the flood. Unfortunately these same livestock have bogged up fields leaving a hoof-marked compacted crust on cultivations which when combined with the ferocious growing barnyard grass is hard to get back into shape.

With the window for our winter crop program opening at the end of April we are well past the time for further preparation of fields we’ve been able to get too. These cultivations will probably have to be worked up when they are drier with a view to utilising them for summer cropping ie: Sorghum or sunflower.

We did however manage to pick up our oats and get it from A to B. Although as you can see by this pic there was still a fair bit of water about, hence the use of the chaser bin and tractor to transport it, instead of our tipper. With luck-I always say that as machinery invariably equals breakdowns-we should have the oats planting finished by tomorrow night. With rain predicted here for Thursday we may for once be fortunate with our timing. I’m sure our steers will be looking over the fence watching our progress, in readiness for the oats smorgasboard ‘Open’ sign to be hung on the gate.