Severe thunderstorms and hail have wrecked various parts of Queensland over the past week but in most cases it has delivered some much needed spring rain, leaving farmers in positive spirits.
Jimbour district farmer, St John Kent, copped a hammering from a hail storm last Thursday, but remains in a positive mood, saying that ‘every cloud has a silver lining’.
Mr Kent with his wife Edwina farm 2000 hectares in partnership with Brett and Helen McLaren, on the rich black, self-mulching soil Jimbour plains.
Until late September, their last significant rainfall was 120 millimetres that fell in February.
When the storm ripped through their property, Coondarra, it delivered in excess of 50mm of rain and hail which destroyed 200ha of chickpeas.
Mr Kent said that while they were expecting a storm, they were not expecting hail, and in the course of 10 minutes it was over.
“Our rain gauges were smashed at the 50mm mark so this fall is just a guess and our on-farm weather station recorded wind speeds of 110km/hour,” he said.
“We have effectively written off our chickpea crop, but this storm has put us back into the business of farming.”
He said in the next seven days they will plant sorghum, with their rainfall since late September now totalling 150mm.
Mr Kent planted his chickpea crop 20 centimetres deep in the first week in June, and until the September rain they were struggling.
“From when we received the September rain it kicked them along and they were flowering as the weather stayed cool and they had moisture,” he said.
“We estimated about two tonne to the hectare, but we will monitor them, as if it stays cool and they have moisture they will re-grow and we will have something to harvest.”
He said if they showed any sign of disease they would be treated in a bid to save the crop.
“If not, we will spray the crop out and save the moisture for further plantings.”
Mr Kent has already bought his sorghum seed and will not be impacted by the current seed shortage.
Helen Walker
Helen is the Toowoomba-based journalist who loves nothing better than covering anything horse sport related, however she covers all commodities and personality yarns. Over the years she has lived in Brisbane, Rockhampton, Longreach and Roma filing stories for the 'bible of the bush'. Contact 0459 827414.
Helen is the Toowoomba-based journalist who loves nothing better than covering anything horse sport related, however she covers all commodities and personality yarns. Over the years she has lived in Brisbane, Rockhampton, Longreach and Roma filing stories for the 'bible of the bush'. Contact 0459 827414.
