Beckom NSW farmer Mike O’Hare sows the seeds of success

MIXED farmer Mike O’Hare is ready for the next dry spell, confident his tough self-seeding pastures will stand up to whatever Mother Nature throws his way.

Seed driven: Mike O'Hare on his farm near Beckom in southern NSW.

MIXED farmer Mike O’Hare is ready for the next dry spell, confident his tough self-seeding pastures will stand up to whatever Mother Nature throws his way.

Mike produces prime lambs, wheat and canola on the family’s 2200ha property, Greendale, at Beckom in southern NSW in partnership with his wife Velia.

The O’Hares have a long farming heritage dating back to the 1870s.

Mike’s late father Phil bought the Beckom property in 1963 and subsequently expanded the holding.

He planted thousands of trees, a practice then ahead of its time, which was continued by his son and family.

Known for thinking outside the square, Mike researched alternative pastures after the 10-year drought ravaged his subterranean clover.

“To replant the farm with sub clover was going to be very expensive,” Mike said.

“We weren’t happy with how the sub clover fared in our environment and looked at alternative legumes.”

Research led the O’Hares to the Middle Eastern and Mediterranean varieties biserrula, bladder clover and gland clover, robust enough to handle Australian conditions.

They established nursery blocks of the new species in 2009 and used the seed to plant the rest of the farm.

Mike said the saving in establishing legume pastures rather than ­replanting with sub clover amounted to tens of thousands of dollars.

There were also savings in future seed purchases with sub clover having to be replanted every so many years.

“Growing and harvesting your own seed is a lot cheaper than buying seed in,” Mike said. “It is still a work in progress and while it is still a bit early to tell how well the legumes will regenerate under all conditions, there has been no need to replant so far.”

SEED DEMONS
MIKE said biserrula seeds had yielded 50-500kg/ha, bladder clover 100-800kg/ha and grand clover 100-300kg/ha. Some seed is harvested and stored in a silo until needed.

Their success has come to the ­attention of the NSW Department of Primary Industries at Forbes, which has conducted research on the O’Hares’ property for eight years, in which time it has organised busloads of interested farmers to view the results.

Mike has sold seed to farmers and, in a one-off sale, to a seed company. “The seed companies are in the business of selling seed. They don’t want farmers producing their own,” he said.

Mike is keen to get the word out to farmers about the benefits and cost savings of growing their own regenerating legume pastures.

He rattles off plusses, including high levels of hard seed, good growth, weed control and, importantly, gains in soil health from supplying nitrogen to the soil before cropping.

Legumes survive the cropping phase with no reseeding needed. “Our rotation is two years of legumes, followed by canola and wheat,” Mike said.

“The pastures are rotationally grazed.”

KEEP IT COVERED

“I TRY to keep some cover on the soil at all times to prevent wind and water erosion,” Mike said. “This also helps maintain healthy soil because it allows water to penetrate, keeps moisture levels up and provides a good environment for the bugs to work in.”

He planted 500ha of Hi Oleic canola and 500ha of wheat in early May for estimated yields, based on the past 10 years, of 1.4 tonnes/ha for canola and 2.5 tonnes/ha for wheat. The Hi Oleic canola variety, which is said to produce healthier oil, was grown under contract to Cargill Foods, with some of the harvest sold to GrainCorp as well.

The wheat is sold to Manildra flour mill at Narrandera.

“We grow oats on canola stubble for sheep feed and I ­experimented with gluten-free oats, meaning they are free of barley and wheat, for Freedom Foods at Murrami,” he said.

The O’Hares use minimal cultivation to maintain soil health and minimal herbicide in keeping with their sustainable farming goal. Weed control is largely managed by their flock of 1600 ewes.

“We originally started with Wiltipoll-Dorper cross ewes and bought in Australian White sheep to replace the Dorpers to get a cleanskin sheep,” Mike said.

An open breeding season was among the reasons for the change. Australian Whites can breed at any time against the seasonal breeding Wiltipolls.

“We are lambing earlier; we have a June lambing. The Wiltipolls usually have a single lamb the first year and then mostly twins.”

Between 1500 and 2000 prime lambs are produced a year for sale over the hooks. Alpacas run with the sheep to help reduce fox predation.

Mike said, sound feet was another ­attribute of Wiltipolls, whose black feet and good legs were more suited to the conditions.

WOW FACTOR

THE Wiltipoll enterprise has a WOW factor — the catchy acronym for the small Wild Oat Wiltipoll stud established in 2007 and comprising 20 purebred ewes, which were joined as lambs. “The main emphasis of the stud is on fertility. If a ewe hasn’t had twins by the time she’s two years old then she’s out,” Mike said.

Dams, now overflowing from recent welcome rain, provide water for the stock.

Mike and Velia run the farm business with the help of a permanent employee who lives on the property. Velia tends a large kitchen nursery producing all the family’s vegetables and fruit, which is eaten fresh, used in cooking and turned into preserves.

THINK TREES

DEDICATED conservationists, the couple and their daughters have added to the tree shelter belts by planting thousands of trees along ­waterways and Whytes and Kildary creeks, which traverse their land. They have fenced off timbered hills, and native plant ­regeneration areas and created a wildlife corridor between the hills at the sides of their valley.

Their reward is increased biodiversity and the spectacle of hundreds of superb parrots, listed as vulnerable on the NSW threatened species list.

Mike hosts annual cropping trials in October each year to share his knowledge with fellow farmers.

Together with his father, Phil, he has hosted wheat variety trials for NSW DPI, the Grain Research and Development Corporation and other grain bodies for more than 60 years. The family’s contribution to the Australian wheat industry was acknowledged with the naming of the Beckom variety of wheat after the town near their property.