By 
Paul Bethune
Take over date for the new farm was Friday, December 15. You would think the kids would share my excitement as it’s not every day you get a new bit of dirt to play with. I got zero takers when I asked who wanted a farm tour, instead I got “just let me know where the race track is going”. And “by the way dad we have started a competition, any time we find a kitchen coffee cup left on a fencepost randomly around the farm – you owe the finder a chocolate milk”. That might cost me more than the farm.
The new block is all adjoining land and is actually part of what was Vic Supers that was managed by Kilter Rural and was then sold to Go Farm who sold it to us. We are buying about 2300 acres, most of it has frontage to my favourite river the Little Murray or sometimes known as the Marraboor, there is some lovely native vegetation spots that are regenerating year on year. There’s also a hill that looks over Lake Boga. There is a 14 metre elevation change from the river flats to the top of the hill so next time there is a flood I’ll have somewhere high and dry to put some cows.
Most farms I have bought over the journey have been what could best be described as a renovator’s delight. The last one came with 300 acres of boxthorns. The new stuff is ready to rock and roll, we will have to build some cow laneways, make the paddocks smaller for grazing and install about 50 water troughs as a start.
There is a small part of this farm that I have really good memories of as a kid riding motorbikes, shooting carp, standing on snakes all that sort of stuff. Isn’t it silly how emotional and historical things help drive our decision making. I passed on buying this block when I was about 20 and was at university and now I’m buying it back for 10 times the price!
The river is going down, the weather is warming up, the damage caused by the river has been significant and costly but less than damage caused by the continued wet weather. I can’t remember a time where we have had so many ill cows at one time. The farm is covered with rank tall ryegrass that is not suitable for milking cow feed. We will bring about 500 head of young cattle home from agistment in early January to try and get some benefit from it.
Lake Boga has been filling slowly and has been opened to the river, as a farm this is our weakest point in a flood , the flow rates are small but the floodway between the Lake and the river has a habit of getting waves on windy days and chopping the levee banks out, we have had great assistance however with geo fabric being installed and the main GMW outfall channel banks have been upgraded so the floodway may not be needed now the river is dropping steadily.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thank you for supporting our fledging milk business. And if you see any coffee cups sitting on fence posts around Lake Boga, hide them quickly.
