THERE may have been no rain to kick off the season on Anzac Day, but the nation’s cropping belt was a hive of activity after due respects had been paid in the morning.
Paddock preparation prior to sowing is still in full swing with burning and leveling taking up many farmers’ time.
In the west Wimmera in Victoria at Ozenkadnook, between Edenhope and Goroke, James Milich and Tyler Hayden were busy leveling with land plans for Goroke district farmer Xavier Breen.
The barley stubble is being prepared for a clover phase this year.
“It’s still dry and that means you can get the leveling done properly,” said Mr Hayden.
Other farmers have started dry sowing programs, especially for pasture and hay crops, such as vetch and oats.
This week has seen a shift into the mainstream cropping program, as the optimum germination window nears for some crops such as canola.
While farmers are looking for rain, the forecast is not promising with Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) not predicting any significant rain in major cropping zones for at least the next eight days.
There have been scattered showers in the past week in grain growing areas of south-west Western Australia of up to 20mm but the rest of the cropping belt is virtually bone dry.