July

With July now behind us is seems that the winter has been very kind, staying mild with few frosts, and good growth being achieved on pastures thanks to the 51mm rain received in July. It's still not winter recharge but at least we are getting regular rain events of about 14mm a time. While it is helpful, the creeks are still not running so that puts it in perspective.

July is the month when we spray our Lucerne paddocks for weeds in preparation for maximising the Lucerne production during the growing season.

Ewes are now being feed barley straw on a paddock and then grazed on kale for a couple of hours a day. They seem very content with this, once the 12 fence pokers have culled themselves from the mob!

Hoggets have been scanned in July and produced a pleasing 124%, although 20% of the hoggets are dry. Analysis of Farm IQ data suggests that the most consistent result is achieved when they weigh at least 50kg liveweight when the ram goes out. Nevertheless it's interesting just how fertile and fecund some of the lighter animals are, although that is also where the highest number of drys are also.

Soil temperature at the end of July is 5.5 degrees.