THE old saying an apple doesn’t fall far from the tree rings true on this Goomalling farm.
Murray Siegert will have two of his three sons home this year and they will be around for the future as well.
The story starts at the original farm in Wongan Hills that traded under the name N & R Siegert and Co.
Brothers Norm and Reg Siegert worked together well into their senior years, until the enterprise split in 2001.
“The 6000 acre (2428 hectare) block here in Goomalling was purchased in 1990 by N & R Siegert and Co, at that point I left Wongan and came here to live,” Murray said.
Murray (son of Norm) married local girl, Fiona Baird, in 1992 and they formed their own business.
Fiona is now actively involved in the farm, working mainly in the office.
Murray continued his succession plan by purchasing another 2023ha of land in the surrounding areas, which meant his sons could return home and be part of the family business.
In 2014 Murray broke with family tradition and sold 2000 head of sheep to focus on cropping.
“I have always been a part of mixed-enterprise farming and I used sheep as part of the rotation, although I didn’t have the time after the expansion of the farm and the shearing shed was becoming beyond repair,” he said.
“I always kept the farm maintained for the possibility of sheep in the future, with troughs and tanks all still functioning.
“Luke seems to have an interest in sheep so there is always a chance,” Murray said.
Eldest son Luke, 22, currently works on the farm full-time after finishing his boilermaker/welder apprenticeship in March.
“I always knew I would end up back at the farm, I just wanted to spend some time in Perth and get a trade before I moved home,” Luke said.
“I never knew how helpful my trade would be until I came back to the farm and started fixing things in the shed,” he said.
Luke was a boarder at Aquinas College from years 8-12, graduating in 2012, and unlike his brothers, Josh and Kaleb, wasn’t sure what he planned to do after school, but farming proved an obvious path.
Josh, 20, took a different path as the middle child and is currently completing a bachelor of sport science at The University of WA.
“Josh has a strong love for sport and is now studying full-time in Perth,” Murray said.
All three boys are heavily involved in sports – Luke and Kaleb played football this season for Goomalling, with Josh joining them next season.
Luke and Kaleb are also playing cricket for Goomalling while Josh plays for Bindoon.
Kaleb, 17, has recently finished his studies at Western Australian College of Agriculture, Cunderdin, after completing years 8-10 at Aquinas College.
“We knew that Kaleb had a strong interest in agriculture and that was what he wanted to focus on in his final years of study, so we gave him the opportunity to go to Cunderdin and he took it,” Murray said.
“Kaleb is still deciding if he wants to come back to the farm straight away, or complete a trade first.”
Murray said if Kaleb returned to the farm he would like to see him work for other people, as well as driving machinery or being a farm-hand.
“Kaleb is currently working for farmers in the area, driving machinery and cutting hay, and will be working for a neighbour at harvest time this year,” Murray said.
Throughout their lives all three boys have shown an interest in the farm and local community.
On holidays they would find themselves helping out, depending on the time of year.
Luke is looking forward to the benefits of technology in his farming career, with an interest in different farming methods.
“Controlled traffic farming is something we might try in the future as well,” Luke said.
He said as farmers they were always trying to find more effective ways to produce crops as cost effectively as possible.
“We have the chaff cart which provides another means of controlling weeds instead of having a reliance on chemicals,” Murray said.
“We have 3850ha of cropping in this season, with 2200ha of wheat (Magenta, Mace and Scepter), 550ha of barley (Hindmarsh, Spartacus and Latrobe), 750ha of GM canola and 330ha of lupins (Jurien and Gunyidi).”
Harvest will be a later start than normal for some central Wheatbelt areas, with late rainfall in October.
“The crops are finishing well, which is great considering the start of the season, which was probably the worst conditions for crop establishment I have seen, which resulted in the crops being thinner than normal,” Murray said.
Luke and Murray are both estimating an average year for their program with the help of 20 millimetres of rain in the past two weeks.
The Siegerts will start harvesting in a few weeks time after the crop has dried out.