BCG Farm in focus: Andrew Slater, Corack, Vic
- By: "Farm Tender" News
- US & World News
- May 23, 2018
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Andrew Slater farms with his wife Julie at Corack East, with support from his parents John and Monica Slater, where he lives with Julie and three boys Daniel, Noah and Luke. He has just started dry sowing ahead of the expected break.
Farm Name: Slater Farming
Location: Corack East
Enterprise mix: 80% cropping (canola, vetch, wheat, barley, lentil, chickpea and lupin), 20% livestock (prime lamb enterprise with first cross and merino ewes)
How is sowing going? Are you sticking to your original plan?
For the last three weeks we’ve been preparing for sowing and doing some non-critical jobs. We started dry sowing at the end of April with vetch, and now some of the wheat is going in. If the dry weather continues, we’ll sow 50% of the wheat and then move on to barley. I’ll delay canola in case there’s a false break (causing the crops to germinate but perish without follow up rain). Canola is an important part of our 5-year rotation representing a good weed and disease break however I won’t sow it unless there is a positive forecast and likelihood of sufficient soil moisture. It will be a tough call…
What are the challenges are you particularly thinking of in 2018?
The weather, and moisture in particular, is always a limiting factor in our environment. I’d like some more rain at the moment to give us more confidence in the season. Growing the business, upgrading machinery, and grain marketing are on-going challenges. We increased our on-farm storage last year which has proven to be a good decision, especially with since 2016 and 2017 being good production years. Our worker, Adam, does a fair percentage of the grain cartage but I try to access a number of markets and options (local feed markets, selling ex-farm, and on-farm storage) to manage our risk.
Frost has been a concern and we’ve been hit on some paddocks in two consecutive years which has been front of mind when planning the 2018 cropping program, in particular the seed varieties I am using. In a worst-case scenario, I am prepared to make hay if there is enough bulk as hay is a good weed control measure, and will yield some income.
How long have you been farming and what do you enjoy about it?
I’ve been on the farm full-time since I was 18 which is long enough for some long service leave!
I enjoy cropping and using the tools available to get the best outcome. I use Yield Prophet and Yield Prophet Lite to match nitrogen with yield potential as the season progresses. I read a lot of information and have a particular interest in the weather. Growers have access to a huge amount of forecasts and I look for consensus in the predictions. There’s a wide spread at the moment (early May 2018) and generally, predictions don’t tend to come together until late June by which time unfortunately, the crop is already in the ground!
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