Oats and roos all gone from cultivation on the farm

ROOS are suspects for eating lucerne hay from the shed.

ROOS: A mob of kangaroos at Twin Waters, an area with a higher rainfall and usually more grass than the Greymare area. Picture: Warren Lynam

DRY AS A BONE column in Bush Telegraph by Gerard Walsh - A lighter look at rural life

OUR oats are finished for the season.

I didn't need to look at it closely, I just looked from a long distance and there were no roos on the oats.

Surely that means there is no feed on the oats.

Seriously we put all our weaners on the oats, 20 odd, and a few cows and calves and the feed disappeared fast.

At least the weaners got a bit before the roos got the rest.

Something that always stands out with the roos is they come in larger numbers looking for oats when it is dry in the grass country.

If there is a lot of green grass in the hills, the roos don't come down to the flats so much.

I haven't yet got the evidence but I reckon during the worst of the dry time, the roos were coming into the hay shed and eating from the bale of lucerne that was opened.

I would open a bale and take a couple of leaves for the horses. Then when I returned a few days later, there was a lot less hay and it wasn't in normal biscuit form.

I did check and there were no calling cards (poo) but they are the suspects.

Obviously the roos know quality hay and we did buy good lucerne hay this year.

Down the years, we have sometimes bought grassy hay or hay that was weather damaged (and cheaper) but this year went for the good stuff - the roos deserve only the best.

It is now decision time, do we plant more oats next year for the roos and a few cattle?

There is always the option of adding a bit more area.

My philosophy is if we plant eight hectares, the roos will eat the equivalent of two hectares. If we plant 12 hectares, they will still eat two hectares of the oats.

Better ask the CEO for an opinion although she is never keen on spending money on the farm with one exception - she wants to pay more money for a better bull.

That is a decision for next year but right now we have to decide about how much oats to plant next year.

Obviously planting oats is good for the economy: we buy fertiliser and seed from Warwick and fuel for the tractor from Allora.

Reminds me of the time I bought a tonne of fertiliser from Allora and put it on our trailer.

The axle of the trailer bent with the weight of the fertiliser near Cunningham, I only got halfway home. A kind neighbour rescued the fertiliser and I got the empty trailer home for a repair job.

The trailer was registered but not sure if it would have passed the men in ironed shirts with scales.

Originally published as Oats and roos all gone from cultivation on the farm