AFTER the devastation of last year's Pinery fires, which burnt through more than 82,000 hectares, farmers in the Lower North area are putting their heads down and getting on with the job of seeding.
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Derek Tiller started sowing ground at his Pinery property on April 19.
This week, he had completed about a third of his cropping program – about 1200ha – with half sown to wheat and the other half to lentils.
“We're not sowing deep enough to find the bit of moisture that is underneath, so we’re relying on a rain to get everything up,” he said.
“We only received a couple of millimetres of rain at the weekend, and some showers on Tuesday.
“All it’s really doing at the moment is holding the dust down for a couple of hours.”
All the ground received emergency tillage after the fire and Mr Tiller said he was happy with the results.
“It’s helped hold our soil together,” he said. “We were concerned about seed placement, due to the furrowing effect of cultivation. But, the seeder has been doing a good job with placement.”
This is the first year Mr Tiller has gone back to using tynes, after using a disc seeder for the previous six years.
“We’d actually changed just before the fire, due to issues with the disc seeder,” he said. It was a well-timed change as disc seeders can have issues going across lumpy and uneven country.
Mr Tiller said a good 20-30mm of rain was needed sooner rather than later, with some follow-up rains.
“We really need a good, soaking rain,” he said.
“I’m holding out hope that will happen on the weekend. But, we’ll continue on seeding regardless.”
Clare had the highest recorded rainfall for the Mid and Lower North in the past week at 10mm.
