WITH less than a quarter of his seeding program left to go rain was a welcome sight on Bruce Rock farmer Leigh Strange’s property last weekend.
Between 4 millimetres and 9mm fell across the farm over the weekend, and with plenty of subsoil moisture Leigh said it would be just enough to prompt germination.
“We’re happy, we would have preferred 25mm but we will take what we can get,” he said.
“It will be enough to get everything out of the ground.”
More than 250mm of rain had already fallen on the farm this year, including up to 6mm in some parts since the start of seeding in mid-April.
Farm Weekly dropped by Leigh’s property last Tuesday, where some of his crop had already germinated.
“We had plenty of subsoil moisture through summer rain so we’ve got probably 30 per cent of the canola up and looking good,” he said.
“The balance ranges from patchy to not up at all.”
Leigh farms with wife De, his three young boys Jimmy, Max and Harry and his parents Stephen and Karen.
About 40 per cent of the Strange’s program is planted to wheat, 30pc is canola, seven per cent is lupins and the remainder is cropped to barley and oats.
Canola plantings have increased this year due to high prices and healthy subsoil moisture, while barley has decreased slightly.
Bonito and Nuseed GT-41 are the canola varieties in the mix, while Scope and Spartacus barley have also been sown.
All of the program is in the ground except for the wheat, which is made up of Mace and Zen varieties.
Leigh said despite some apprehension in the area before the rain, he remained positive about the season.
“The average break around here is about May 19-20, so it’s just shaping up to be a normal season,” Leigh said.
