We recently caught up with Sea Lake farmer Joel Clohesy. Joel shared an update on his farm and how he is approaching grain storage for the upcoming harvest.
What is your role on the farm and what does your farm operation look like?
We have a cropping and livestock enterprise. I work on the farm with my dad John, alongside seven workers. Our cropping enterprise has wheat, barley, canola, lentils and oaten hay, and we run our sheep feedlot all year round.
How do you balance both your cropping and livestock operation?
We have one full time worker in the feedlot at all times. I enjoy the work so jump in there a bit, so does Dad. We help each other out and change it up when one side of the enterprise is busier.
What are you currently doing to prepare for Harvest?
We are planning to store as much grain on the farm as possible. The price of barley isn’t great at the moment, and we will use a lot as feed in the feedlot. This gives us flexibility to see what the prices do throughout the year.
We’re currently getting ready to put in a clay bunker for barley. We’re transforming augers and getting the maintenance ready. Earth works will start soon, taking clay from the dam and leveling out the ground so water runs away from the bunker. We’re hoping it is smooth and easy to outload grain, but we will see. I am sure it will have its challenges!
What is your plans when farm storage is full?
We don’t have enough storage on farm to hold everything from this harvest. We’ve ordered silo bags for extra storage. We plan to do these in the paddock when we’re under the pump in the paddock. We’ll cart a bit of grain into town at the local grain storage facility in the mornings, so we will have some room to start the day and can just get straight into it.
What’s your current grain marketing strategy and how will it change with extra volume?
We have sold a small bit of grain before harvest for security. I don’t think the extra volume will change our current marketing strategy, as mentioned we’ll just store as much as we can and watch what the prices are doing throughout the year.
How is disease pressure on your farm at the moment?
Good at the moment since it has dried out. We got on top of it early. It will be interesting to see what this rain does and if it has any effect.
Are there any practices or equipment that have made a difference to productivity or cost control on your farm?
We purchased a second hand self propelled sprayer this year which has really taken the pressure off. We can cover the whole farm in a much shorter time, one goes on cereals, the other legumes, we’re cleaning out way less. It has made the operation much more efficient.
What’s been the biggest learning so far in this season?
Taking advantage of the moisture around and not waiting for things to happen. In terms of nitrogen, not being afraid and putting it out, has really paid off this year. We know what we can do now, if anything, this year has filled me with confidence when it comes to this kind of decision making.
