THE need for follow-up rain had Gavin Rehn stopping seeding at Arno Bay for the second time this year.
After starting sowing in April, he began again last week after a two-month break, before stopping again this week.
“When we stopped there was no rain on the horizon and we were sowing into a dry profile,” he said.
“We’d had lots of floaty showers but no general rain.”
In the past week, he has sown an extra 360 hectares of wheat but expects to leave 300ha normally included in the cropping program, unsown.
Mr Rehn said the latest rain brought mixed blessings, with one of his family’s farms recording about 25 millimetres in the past week, while another farm only had 13mm.
“If we don’t sow a crop, there will be no stubble during summer,” he said.
“There is still moisture underneath if plants can germinate and breach that gap.”
Mr Rehn said, at this stage, he expected most crops to average one tonne/ha.