WUBIN mixed cropping and sheep farmer Boyd Carter was one of first farmers in the northern Wheatbelt region who cranked up his seeding program last week.
Mr Carter, who farms with his father Keith and with the help of four staff, expects to be seeding until late June on his 9270 hectare property, after planting his first test box of PBA Jurien lupins on Friday, April 7.
The team on the Wubin property was sowing Mandelup variety lupins when Farm Weekly visited last Wednesday.
Next on the agenda is a 1500ha canola program, which Mr Boyd plans to start this week if there is a bit of rain in the area.
The Carters have made a few changes to their cropping program this year, including an increased canola planting which has prompted the early start.
“We’re starting a bit earlier than usual because canola usually takes us a bit longer to get through and we’ve upped the hectares,” Mr Carter said.
“We’ve also increased our oat program for hay and barley has gone up too.
“Obviously prices are a factor, and the break and weed control.”
Also in the mix is 5500ha of wheat, made up of Mace, Zen, Scepter and Emu Rock varieties.
With only 75 millimetres of rain so far this year, Mr Carter said he would dry seed up to half of the crop.
“We’ve probably had the average amount of rainfall for the area for this time of year but it has been a lot less than what we received in the previous two years where we had our annual rainfall in the first few months of the year.
“There’s a little bit of moisture pretty deep down, but it’s dry.”
Most farms in the area will probably start planting this week.
