Couple increase area planted in arable crops

14-04-2010 | Not Specified

All crops are direct-drilled with a drill the Tuers share with their neighbour.

Over the years the Tuers have grown varying amounts of arable crop depending on returns. At the start of the Monitor Farm programme they were growing only 5ha of barley.

As grain prices improved three years ago they increased the area in arable crop and this season they grew a total of 82ha comprising 19ha in wheat, 27ha in barley and 36ha in peas.

The peas and wheat were grown on contract, but the peas were hammered by hail and in Campbell's words, were a bit of a waste of
time.

Barley prices were also back.

While they will continue to grow similar amounts of crop this year, they will continue to evaluate their cost-effectiveness.

Just before beginning their tenure as Monitor Farm owners, Campbell and Ingrid took on the lease of Bradford Creek, a 120ha lease block around 10km from the home farm.

As Bradford Creek has heavy clay soils and is on rolling down country it does not dry out as quickly in summer, providing balance to the more drought-prone home farm.

Right from the start the couple had been using this block for grazing dairy heifers but when the Monitor Farm programme began they extended the dairy support to the home farm and took on dairy cows as well as heifers.

The heifers are grazed on a per head/per week basis with a weight-gain bonus, while the Tuers sell standing feed as kg DM/ha for dairy cows.

In the past the couple have been dealing with several different dairy farmers with the cow grazing, but as from this season they will be dealing with fewer farmers on a long-term basis.

The couple do most of the work with the dairy stock themselves, shifting breaks and feeding straw, although because Ingrid was busy with Joshua last year, they did employ an extra pair of hands over the winter.

Trading bulls were another class of stock the Tuers wintered last year and these were sold in spring.

Campbell says they worked really well and they will be looking to buy some again this year provided they have the feed available and the economics stack up.

The couple have shares in the proposed Central Plains irrigation scheme; if this gets the green light, they will again have to rethink their farm operation in order to get the best return on their irrigation investment.

Campbell says it is unlikely they would continue to run breeding ewes under irrigation; rather they would most likely carry more dairy heifers and possibly grow more crop - perhaps more specialist crops such as vegetable seed - and finish more trading lambs.

Rather than carry out all the irrigation development at once, they would take a more piecemeal approach.

By developing a section of the farm at a time they would not put themselves under too much financial pressure.

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