User Profile

Andrew Mole

Filling gaps for a farming future

NARRAPORT’S Bill Lee took a fairly short round trip on his way to a Bachelor of Agriculture at the University of Melbourne and back to the family farm. He took a gap year where he spent six months working on the farm and another...

19 Oct 2024

Opinion

You protest too much, methinks

THE old Whacker has been known to make the odd protest or two over the years (very odd, some have suggested).Such as the times (and this is an ongoing almost-annual outrage) the local agent tells me my selling fees have to go up. Again. Then there was...

19 Oct 2024

Livestock

Broad-ribbon bonanza for Tamaleuca

OUYEN-based Poll Merino stud Tamaleuca is on a roll. Coming off the back of a rock-solid annual on-property ram sale in August, it has now swept through the showring at the Adelaide Royal and come home with the reserve grand champion Poll Merino...

19 Oct 2024

Dryland Farming

Farming a fair-dinkum balancing business

THERE was a critical message for participants at the 2024 Birchip Cropping Group’s Main Field Day at Nullawil, south of Robinvale, this week. Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre chief economist Professor Ross Kingwell told them “the most...

19 Oct 2024

Other

Ploughing through the cropping-information overload

In many ways, our growers should not be relying so heavily on spraying providing all the solutions. For example, if you have signs of disease at the tillering stage, it is something of a Catch-22: you need to do the maths to see if...

19 Oct 2024

Wine Grapes

Hardly springing into the spring

SPRING has certainly sprung, but in some ways it is a little bit too early, with grapevines emerging ahead of schedule. This comes on top of our protracted dry conditions, which is leaving us exposed to frost damage. We managed to escape any serious...

19 Oct 2024

North West Farmer

Win some, lose some weather-wise

DRY weather is bad for crops – but very good for calving cows. We have had a bit of both lately so, effectively, by lying to myself I am always able to be convinced the glass is half full and we are winning. Yes, our dryland crops might be stuffed...

19 Oct 2024

Livestock

Get rams ready

WITH the ram selling season now in full swing across the Mallee and northwest Victoria and Elders’ Swan Hill livestock specialist Matt Rowlands explains how you can make sure your rams are in tip top condition ready for joining. The success of any...

19 Oct 2024

North West Farmer

Industry guru Dr Grant Hollaway explains rust protection

IF you thought rust decisions are all about rain in your crop – think again. Heat is just as big a problem. And industry guru Dr Grant Hollaway will be explaining where it can all go wrong for you when he attends the annual Birchip Cropping Group...

21 Sep 2024

North West Farmer

Starick first woman to chair GRDC

IN what will be a new leadership era for GRDC, South Australian grain grower Sharon Starick has been announced as its new chair. Sharon Starick is not just one of the first growers from her state to lead the largest of the rural research and...

21 Sep 2024

North West Farmer

Riding right off the pages of history

THERE would be few scenes more rustic and reminiscent of the earliest days of Australian exploration and opening up vast agricultural areas: slowly picking their way along the banks of the Murray, a small group of horsemen and women trailing...

21 Sep 2024

North West Farmer

SHC’s Mr Mango helping growers

DARWIN might seem a far-flung address for a Swan Hill Chemicals branch but since Brett Eade joined the team there in November last year his clients have been doing more than just making hay while the sun shines. So to speak. Because while it is not...

21 Sep 2024