Hard-Working Farmers On The Edge

To sow or not to sow… that is the question. As farmers watch the weather radar, day after day, now with hope receding back into their minds… the next decision awaits. Should farmers be sowing the seed for their pastures and crops with this current weather forecast looking hopeful?

Farming relies on the weather… in all decision-making processes on-farm. Frustration had set in over the last year or two, with so many weather forecasting inaccuracies. Farmers cultivating paddocks, sowing seed or direct drilling, without any results on the ground.

In February last year, we planted five paddocks with Winter feed for our livestock. As the weather prediction was promising but failed to deliver… those paddocks were a failure without rainfall.

Battling on in this current drought, the decision-making process has become hesitant and painful on the bottom dollar. Gambling on rainfall to deliver… but lacking with the current dry. When will farmers catch a break?

The latest weather forecast has been predicting rain, not drought-breaking rain, but nevertheless enough moisture for a crop to successfully emerge. Many farmers have been preparing paddocks and sowing seed. Many farmers have been too skeptical to take another chance.

Farming is a gamble… yet a decision must be made. A decision… right or wrong. The last 2 nights my husband has been sowing seed in hope for a positive outcome with the predicted rainfall delivering the moisture we need. My son has been working on a neighbouring cattle station preparing paddocks in anticipation for this rainfall event on Friday.

Day and night… farmers are driving tractors until each paddock is complete. As farmers work these long hours, they remain absent from their families at night. The focus is on Friday in our region… farmers need to get it all done before Friday. Then we all hope and pray that the rain gods deliver the much-needed precipitation.

Take care, Karen.