THERE’S no place like home for young Narrogin farmer Dylan White.
Like many other young people, Dylan completed a mechanical apprenticeship but when he had enough it was time to return to the family farm, Nepowie.
“I worked up in South Hedland for a few years, then I worked in the local dealership as a mechanic,” Dylan said.
“But I had enough of being a mechanic and decided to come home about a year and a half ago.”
Dylan was a boarder at Aquinas College in Perth, but completed his studies at the WA College of Agriculture, Narrogin, after attending an open day that exposed him to trades and ag industry possibilities.
He graduated in 2010 and moved to South Hedland the following year to start his apprenticeship.
His partner Morgan Blake moved to South Hedland with him and has also returned to Narrogin to live on the farm.
She breeds and trains horses in the Wagin area.
When he returned to Nepowie, Dylan took on the responsibility of the cropping program with his father Cameron.
His trade has come in handy as he can fix farm machinery as well.
Dylan’s older brother Blake is more involved in the Nepowie stud and its 5000 ewes, giving both boys the chance to be responsible for different aspects of the farm.
“We have 2700 hectares of cropping this year, with Mace wheat as the majority of the crop,” Dylan said.
“We also grew some oats but it is mainly for feed and we store that on-farm.”
Early floods in February caused significant damage to parts of the farm and waterlogging is still an issue.
“We had massive floods come through, the roads were covered all the way over and there were lakes everywhere,” Dylan said.
“Some oat paddocks have damage from waterlogging, while other parts of the paddocks are still bright green.”
In July, when the ground dried out, a lot of plants germinated, meaning a delayed start to harvest.
The farm had more finishing rains last month which has kept the ground wet and allowed for a soft finish for the wheat.
“These are some of the best crops I have seen in a long time, compared to the frost last year which did some damage,” Dylan said.
“The crops should be just above average, the crop is a bit stripy where the later stuff come up, but we will wait for it all to dry out.”
Both headers are out of the shed and have been serviced and are ready to go.
Dylan plans to start harvest in about two weeks, although he has to finish spraying pastures first.
