Toobeah family see benefits in late planting but more rain is needed

Ngare Davison and daughter Kayla were at the Queensland Country Life Food Heroes event nearby their own property, Kyawanna.

Ngare, her husband Bill and daughter Kayla operate a beef and cropping business with about 4046 hectares of cultivation, currently planted with 1600 hectares of chickpeas, 1000 hectares of wheat and 600 hectares of barley.

They usually start planting in the second week of May but were held up by “four or five days” after receiving 20mm of rain and waiting for their tractor to be repaired.

The stoppage proved to be beneficial with early plantings in the region having raced away due to warm weather.

Now the Davison family hope their luck can continue and are waiting on some in crop rain.

Ngare Davison said the moisture profile varied across their properties, with one enjoying decent rain while the other had missed out on falls over the summer.

“We have had two good winters but three probably tough summers,” she said.

“There is reasonable moisture there but I wouldn’t say it is complete full profile.”

The Davison family plant HatTrick chickpeas, Lancer and Baxter wheat, Sunvale bread wheat and Grout barley, which is used for on farm feed.

Kayla Davison said by planting later they had avoided some of the warmer weather that had affected some crops in the regions. 

“Those people that were that early, and some people start as early as Anzac day around here, any of that (planting) definitely took off and it’s a lot further ahead just because of the warm weather,” she said.

Mrs Davison added that in the the broader district some crops had even started to get a head because they had raced away.

“As I kept saying to my husband it (the tractor break down) might be a blessing in the end,” she said.