Ben McTaggart

Farmer, Father, Lover......of sport.

MIG Management and R&D Committees but views and opinions are all mine

[Ben McTaggart @bentags]

@S_M_Bowman Must admit I was a bit disappointed after waking up to this forecast to only find 6mm in the gauge.

[Ben McTaggart @bentags]

@GribbleRC Not much room for star pickets or plough discs to get through
@gimmeahandle 😬

[Ben McTaggart @bentags]

@Ashley_Jacobs92 @grassrootsag @gsandral @NSW_AGRONOMY This is tox, not deficiency

[West Weather Watchers 🌧️⛈️🌞⚡ @WestWXWatchers]

Below average winter rainfall likely

The Bureau have released their long range rainfall summary for AU, and for the South West Land Division its not painting a great picture.

After some solid starting rains for much of the region post TC Narelle and other rounds of thunderstorm activity, May has not delivered much if at all, and the next 3 months we are looking at a 60% to 80% chance that rainfall is likely to be below average for south-western AU. The dry signal over the three‑month period is heavily driven by stronger probabilities of below‑average rainfall emerging later in the season more so than earlier in the winter season. This is evident when analysing the monthly chance of above median for June and July, which is signally generally average rainfall for the month.

Over south-west, this rainfall forecast from the Bureau's ACCESS-S model is generally consistent with forecasts from most international models, which also show drier than average rainfall. However, the extent of the dry signal is generally larger in other models.

What are your thoughts on these long range forecasts and how might it affect you?

[Living Farm @Living_Farm]

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[Ben McTaggart @bentags]

@paradooprime Yep, successive grading operations that have given way to saplings in the drain to the point where there is no drain and prefect cover for kangaroo peek-a-boo

[Scott Bowman @S_M_Bowman]

Mice have beaten us here. Harvest fire left 4 ton of sterile wheat on the ground. Had 3kg ZP50 and I think we’re going to try plow the burnt grain in, hopefully killing lots of mice at the same time and reseed.

Should be 3 leaf barley

[Ben McTaggart @bentags]

@farmersgrowit I think in a lower food situation, like around sheds, bulk 25s will be pretty effective

[Ben McTaggart @bentags]

Bit unpleasant in the hay shed at the moment. The baits do work though, and its interesting that they still hunt them out, even when there's free grain around

[Ben McTaggart @bentags]

@larke_craig There was numbers pretty early in the summer. There's pretty well established thresholds. Roughly 1 active burrow in 100x1m transect I think (100/ha).

We've got country that would be 10-20 times that.

I think how you react to the threshold would depend on food source

[Ben McTaggart @bentags]

@Wallywalta @raelene1458 Mouseoff/dead mouse

[Ben McTaggart @bentags]

@farmersgrowit Have been using baited grain around the sheds. Wax block style weren't making a dent in this high pressure situation. We'd had bait stations there for months, then did a lap around it with the spreader and there was carnage the next day. I was a bit surprised how active they were

[Ben McTaggart @bentags]

@cosfarming @S_M_Bowman Relatively small area that was burnt standing wheat crop. Has been baited twice since seeding 8 days ago. Think we've pulled them up now, there's a lot of dead ones on the surface, but there's definitely damage been done. Extreme pressure here though

[Ben McTaggart @bentags]

@S_M_Bowman @Headingforsixty Burrowed up from the outside. Interesting behaviour, but when I disturbed them, a heap burrowed down back to the outside world

[Ben McTaggart @bentags]

@Ashley_Jacobs92 Canola on Canola?

[Ben McTaggart @bentags]

@Tedthekelpie Indirectly, yes.
But keeping cows in a 12m cycle with 283 gestation and roughly 80days postpartum anestrus is a challenge. So the theory is that gaining a few days in GL will help. Also takes the pressure off growth rate ebv if they get more days growing compared to the average.

[Ben McTaggart @bentags]

Been selecting for more GL bulls for a number of years, and its pleasing to see the results on ground. 1st calvers are roughly 25% done, 3 days before 1st due date

[Ben McTaggart @bentags]

@Tedthekelpie Gestation length. Typo on the critical point in the post. Selecting for low GL bulls