Peter Mullan farms with his wife Joanne. They live on their Lalbert property with three daughters: Kate, 15, Samantha, 13 and Rebecca, 11. He is a self-described “conservative mixed farmer” and he says the mixed clay loam he farms “closes up” in the tough years. Also describing himself as a “fluid farmer” he will make management decisions using a range of risk management tools including experience, forecasts, his agronomist, the BCG technical bulletin and Twitter.
Crop types: wheat, barley, vetch hay and a lentil crop this year.
Livestock types: 400 cross bred ewes and we purchased 400 merino ewes in lamb this year.
How has harvest been going? How did you cope with the recent rainfall? Did you cut anything for hay? What will you start on once the rain dries up!?
We are back into harvesting wheat after 34mm of rain last week (early December). Prior to this, we got all the barley off and we are nearly 80% of the way through harvest.
I am very happy with the yields and quality of barley and the wheat has been better than expected too.
How would you describe the 2017 growing season?
It’s been a strange year. The early weather predictions were for a low-rainfall year so I left a few paddocks out of my rotation. June and July were dry but I still put out nitrogen at sowing because soil tests revealed low N levels after a good 2016 production year and denitrification. We had 200mm in August so I applied more N to meet crop demand. In the end, most of the farm has had between 70 and 90kg/ha of urea.
I am happy with the decision to purchase another flock of sheep too. Livestock have been exceptionally good for our farm viability. When the years are tough in cropping, sheep are still reliable. They are a risk management tool.
Mice numbers were low because we have stock to clean up paddocks and I cut the vetch for hay which removed their feed sources too. We were also extremely lucky to avoid frost damage.
One of the paddocks I left out of the rotation was a medic paddock that we cut for hay in 2016, it grew so well again this year so we cut it for hay. I generally sell my hay directly to dairy farmers in the Gunbower/Leitchville area.
Looking to 2018, what are your rotation and enterprise-mix plans?
We won’t make many changes except to ‘wait and see’ if many lentils are sold this year. We have stored ours and will probably sell them when the price is right.
Any challenges or opportunities you will be considering for 2018?
I’m sure we will have to spend more on MAP and urea fertiliser after a second good production year.
Where do you get your best information from to make on-farm decisions?
My agronomist, Craig Muir at Agrivision, is my number one source of information. He can be in my paddock when I am not. I do like the BCG technical bulletin too and I will often read some information from this and then discuss it with Craig.
Twitter is increasingly becoming a good source of agricultural news too. Occasionally I pick up something from Twitter and take action from there.
Will you be taking time off after harvest? Do you think this is important?
It’s important to take time out for your family so I try to attend all the kids’ end of year concerts and presentations.
We’ll be taking time off as a family over the summer holidays. I could easily have a holiday at home but we will probably go to Melbourne to get away.
Any final messages?
I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas but particularly the ones who haven’t had a good production year. Go and enjoy yourself with family and friends with what you do have, including some time off if you can.
