Farming way of life for O'Hares

The family property 'Nangunia' was originally a war service farm when Mr O'Hare's parents first moved there in 1948.

He was born a year later in 1949 and growing up on the family farm meant he knew from a young age that he wanted to be a farmer.

Mr O'Hare said even during his school years, farming is what he wanted to do.

This meant it was only natural that after finishing boarding school in Perth, he returned home to work alongside his father.

But this working partnership only lasted a few years.

When Mr O'Hare was 22 years old, his father was killed in a terrible accident involving a tractor.

This meant Mr O'Hare had to stand up and take over running the farm on his own.

He is still farming the 891 hectare property and running 800 Merino breeding ewes 50 years later.

Mr O'Hare's wife Judy said he has done it by himself for the most part, which she thought was quite remarkable.

In recent years the sheep side of the operation has been leased to a local farmer, though Mr O'Hare still remains involved.

"I knew it was probably time to share the workload," Mr O'Hare said.

As well as sheep, the O'Hares also run a cropping program, consisting of mostly wheat with some barley, which is on a three-year rotation.

In recent years he has reduced his physical workload and to ease the pressure, he hires casual staff at seeding and harvest, but he prefers to drive the tractor at night during seeding.

"I like to get the seed in the ground as quickly as possible and with a thought to weed control," he said.

The sheep are kept on the farm with the O'Hares ensuring there is plenty of water for them, and maintaining fences.

Part of the agreement also means that Mr O'Hare keeps the wethers before selling them through the Muchea Livestock Centre or direct to live export with the help of a stock agent.

Merinos have always been the breed of choice, being on the farm since the family first moved to Quairading 73 years ago.

The main purpose of the flock is wool production.

Shearing was normally in spring, but when a friend advised Mr O'Hare to move it to autumn he changed it.

"I trialled it for a year and it worked well," he said.

Generally the flock cuts an average of seven kilograms per head, but it does depend on the season and Mr O'Hare aims for 19-micron wool, although the wool is closer to 20-21 micron now.

With the shearing and drafting of the sheep still happening onfarm, four years ago the O'Hares invested in a set of new sheep yards.

When the O'Hares first started to build their sheep flock, they sourced the majority of them from Woodpark, New South Wales.

Mr O'Hare said at the time people perceived the sheep from the east to be better, but that's not true now.

The O'Hares also purchased genetics from Boonoke and Strathcluan (Lewisdale).

They ewes were traditionally joined in January, but that now occurs in February.

Mr O'Hare said this joining period worked well because the ewes lambed down onto green feed and required less handfeeding.

To feed the sheep some of the barley from the crops was kept each year and he also sowed various pasture varieties such as Medic, but now he mainly relies on naturally regenerating pastures.

At harvest, all of the grain is delivered to the local CBH bin.

As for the sheep and wool markets, Mr O'Hare said it has changed over the years, with many ups and downs, but it is now nearly matching the buying power of the 1960s.

"It is much better than it was, it was due to improve," he said.

With so many years of experience up his sleeve, Mr O'Hare recalled some of the more significant events for the wool industry.

"I saw the reserve price come in for wool and then it was taken out because we went too high with it, we priced ourselves out of the market," he said.

"I remember when crossbreds were introduced and it put people off buying wool because the micron was good, but the wool felt prickly."

Mr O'Hare said one of the biggest changes to his operation was in 1995 when knife-edge points and minimum tillage for cropping were introduced.

"When direct drilling was brought in we thought that was marvellous and then it was superseded by minimum-till," he said.

Mr O'Hare is conscientious about the environment and leaving the soil in a better condition than it was when he first started farming.

To help him maintain and replenish the soil he uses a soil scientist who he has been with for more than 10 years.

"I have noticed there has been an increase in earthworms in the soil and we have noticed the presence of some dung beetles which help to aerate the soil and return nutrients," he said.

With a lot of the machinery in the operation being second-hand or old enough to be considered vintage, it is up to Mr O'Hare to maintain it.

"He has to be somewhat of a mechanic, he is very good at keeping everything going," Ms O'Hare said.

When it comes to seasons, Mr O'Hare said 2019 was a good year producing plenty of feed and the cooler October meant there was plenty of moisture in the ground to help the crops.

"The season before last was brilliant," he said.

A noticeable change in the seasons for the O'Hares has been the increased severity and frequency of frosts during the growing season.

So far the O'Hares have received 60 millimetres of rainfall and it is looking like a promising season.

"As long as the rain keeps coming, it should be a good year," he said.

While Mr O'Hare is gradually slowing down his farming operation, he still likes to keep his finger on the pulse.

"Farming is what he loves," his proud wife said.