MT WALKER farmer Bill Cowan, pictured with Swiss worker Tania Bachman and dog Bear, reckons this year is “one of the toughest mentally” for growers as many realise the affect frost has had on yields this season.
“I’m a bit older and a bit more seasoned but for younger farmers it’s pretty gut-wrenching,” Bill said.
“The first time we got smashed with frost was 1998 and I can remember telling my wife then ‘this year is too good to be true’ and unfortunately this year is probably the same, except the potential was even greater.”
Frost has bitten hard for Bill, who cropped 11,000 hectares with son Peter, daughter Gabby and wife Diane, with significant yield losses in barley.
“Before the frost, we were looking at about four tonnes per hectare in our barley crop, now I reckon we won’t even get a tonne,” he said.
However, the canola crops have held up well and a delay in seeding on their Lake King sharefarm has meant that there is still a wheat crop to harvest.
A decision to hold onto an additional 1000 sheep rather than sell has also proved to be a good one.
“Oats saved our bacon last year and brought a poor average season to a good average,” he said.
“We think we will struggle this year, but the canola will help us get to an average finish.”
