Bright outlook for Callington cockie

According to the latest Rabobank rural confidence survey, SA farmers are the least confident about prospects for agriculture- a result that has surprised Mark.

"I hear about all these surveys but I don't know who they're talking to," Mark said. "I'm happy with what we're doing – I'll pay my bills and have a bit left over – I think life's good at the moment."

Mark crops 500 hectares each year – focusing on wheat with barley, canola and peas also planted – and runs 800 Merino breeding ewes. He says running a cropping and livestock operation means at least one sector – grains, wool or lamb – is usually returning strong prices.

"There's always something going well, and the area we're in is pretty reliable," he said.

"There's still good money in cropping. Inputs have actually come back a bit from where they used to be, for example there's more generic sprays out there that cut costs. Also, everyone jumps up and down about the price of diesel, but we hardly use any anymore.

"We used to work the paddock and plough it, cultivate it and work it again – now it's just sprayed and direct drilled. The amount of diesel used is bugger all compared to what it used to be."

Now reaping Mace wheat, Mark is hoping to finish harvest early next week.

He said his Mace and Scout wheat crops were yielding slightly below average – 2.5 tonnes a hectare compared to 3t/ha – but had performed well given the dry spring.

"The wheat has been the one that's really good. Our protein is down, it's only going ASW, but the test weights are heavy, and the screenings have not been an issue," he said.

"We thought it might have all pinched off. I don't know what it was living on, but it hung in there."

Canola yields were down by half, with oil content also lower than usual. His Buloke barley yielded well but was deemed feed grade at the silo.

* Full report in Stock Journal, December 4, 2014 issue.