Bell family preparing mixed farm for drought at Mockinya in Victoria

MOCKINYA mixed farmers Andrew and Simone Bell are gearing their business to deal with a dry end to the year.

Wimmera Mallee season

MOCKINYA mixed farmers Andrew and Simone Bell are gearing their business to deal with a dry and disappointing finish to the year.

The Bells farm 2800ha at Mockinya, a picturesque area near the Black Range, south of Horsham.

Andrew worked as an agronomist before taking over management of the farm from his parents Barry and Cheryle.

The farm normally receives about 450mm of rain annually.

But this year is on-track to be well below average. To date, they had received 270mm.

Despite that challenge, and an inevitable reduction in income, the Bells are making changes to help them and the business get through what is proving to be a tricky year for farmers throughout the Wimmera and Mallee.

And, they are quick to point out that many farmers further to the north are experiencing a much tougher season.

“We feel for them, some people won’t even get a harvest,” he said.

About half the Bell’s farm business is cropping grain and hay production.

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The other side is livestock — goats for meat production, sheep for wool and meat and beef cattle.

Andrew said a portion of the property was lighter, non-wetting sand country that was not overly productive and more suited to grazing rather than cropping.

The Bells have made the decision to sell their lambs early this year, as suckers, to help cope with the sharp end to the season.

Conditions have been unusually dry from August on.

“We had 75mm in July and a lot of the crops got waterlogged,” Andrew said.

“We also had run off which filled dams, but now, it has shut off and we don’t have any (pasture) feed.

“The biggest problem here is we will now be supplementary feeding and looking for agistment options.

“We will sell sucker lambs instead of carrying them through to February like we normally would.”

Tricky times ahead: Simone and Andrew Bell, Mockinya, with children Hamish, Lara, Ava and Mia.

The sheep flock is both Mount Yulong-blood Poll Merinos, producing 20-micron wool, and a crossbred flock, focused on meat.

First-cross ewes are bred and mated to Poll Dorset rams to produce terminal lambs.

The sheep enterprise recorded an overall average of 100 per cent lambing this year.

Andrew credits that result to lessons learnt through the Lifetime Ewe program.

“We have tweaked things, got our ewes into better condition and separated twins and singles, which has produced rewarding results,” he said.

In the goat enterprise, Andrew said his family have been running goats for cashmere production since the mid-80s.

But Andrew said the cashmere market in Australia “has collapsed”.

Now, he is mating the 600 head herd to Boers billygoats to switch to meat production.

“Meat production is viable, there is demand for as much as we can produce, from restaurants in Melbourne,” he said.

So far, Andrew said his crops were “going OK”.

“They still have yield potential, we could potentially get 2.8 tonnes/ha for wheat, but the hay paddocks are well behind last year.”

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Canola is expected to make 1.5t/ha, down from the usual average of about 2t/ha.

Lupins — which hated getting wet feet — were looking promising and could yield an above average of 2t/ha.

But Andrew said rain was needed, before late October, to get the crops over the line.

In recent years the family have invested in on-farm grain storage facilities, with a capacity to hold 1000t.

This gave them more flexibility to market their grain throughout the year.

This was important, when the nearest bulk handling facilities were about 70km away at Dimboola or Murtoa.

The Bells also sell pasture hay and expect there will be good demand this year.

But they also have a “drought shed” with 120 tonnes of hay on reserve for their own needs.

“I’ve only used it once in eight years, and that was two years ago,” he said.

Andrew said this season was very unusual.

“I haven’t seen a season like this, normally we get 70mm in August, this year we got 5mm.”

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Considering the dry year and expected reduced income, he and Simone are considering changes to their business.

The cattle enterprise, based on 50 Charolais cows, compared to the other enterprises was the least profitable.

“So, the cattle might have to go,” he said.

“And, we are trying to build up our ewe numbers, aiming for 2500, but because of the season, we will also have to sell some ewes to manage our pastures and will also sell wethers.”

Andrew, who worked as an agronomist for 10 years before farming, has built up a strong network of contacts.

“I think most people have had a few reasonable years so they will be able to get through one bad one OK, but of course everyone’s situation is different,” he said.

“For us here, the biggest thing is going to be our stock numbers, we don’t want to have too many mouths to feed.

“Some people in this area are already feeding sheep.”

Supplementary feeding stock through dry periods could become very costly and was a situation Andrew said he was keen to avoid if possible.

Thankfully, the Bells have enough water on hand for their stock, with dams 70 per cent full, and connection to the Wimmera pipeline.

“We’ve also got a shed of oaten hay from last year, which we hope to sell in the coming months,” Andrew said.

While there was developing demand for hay, ironically Andrew had been worried about not being able to move it during the past six months.

Overall, with the management changes in response to the dry weather, the Bells are on-track for “a slightly below average year at this point”, Andrew said.

But without significant rain, crops and hay yields could still fall dramatically.

“Hopefully everyone gets some rain within the next two weeks,” he said.