GOONDIWINDI Mayor Lawrence Springborg was able to get just one B-double load of barley off his Yelarbon property Kettles Forrest before the heavens opened and the harvest became bogged down.
Then, just as the ground was starting to dry out another 50mm arrived further hampering efforts.
Almost three weeks and plenty of blue skies, clear nights and drying winds later, the harvest of the 525 hectares of Sunmax wheat and 40ha of Commander barley is now in full swing.
"It's been a challenging year, for once not because of drought, but because of how much in-crop rain we received," Mr Springborg said.
"Some of the early-May planted crop was even waterlogged, which has caused a few quality downgrade issues.
"It's certainly a great relief to see it all coming off now."
Mr Springborg said he intended to return much of the cultivated area to pasture and focus primarily of running Dorper sheep and cattle, partly as livestock was a better fit with his commitments in public office.
"There's also the issue about the rapidly rising costs of inputs including fertilisers and chemicals," he said.
Mr Springborg was operating his pride and joy during the harvest; a very well preserved 1980's International 1460 header.
"The beauty of this machine is that it is pretty easy to operate and still does a very good job," he said.
"It may have a bit of age but with plenty of pre-harvest attention on the mechanicals, it's proven extremely reliable, and produces an excellent (grain) sample."
Mr Springborg was ably assisted by Oman-ama contractor Norris Henman on a R72 Gleaner and former federal Member for Blair and one time Queensland Country Life journalist Cameron Thompson on a Case IH 7120 tractor in charge of the 22 tonne chaser bin.
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