Family tradition endures for farmer Andrew Shepherd from Kybybolite
“SMALL seed cropping,” said Andrew Shepherd, a fourth-generation farmer, “has been passed down through my family.
“SMALL seed cropping,” said Andrew Shepherd, a fourth-generation farmer, “has been passed down through my family.
“My great grandfather was actually the bloke who invented the Shepherd Super Broadcaster in 1927.
“He ended up selling the patent to Horwood Bagshaw.”
The Shepherd family is still heavily involved in the pastoral industry, with Andrew, his wife, Deanna, and sons Jake and Sid farming 728ha, and leasing a further 125ha in Kybybolite, on the Victorian border in South Australia.
The family run 1200 first-cross ewes for prime lambs, buying in Merino Border-Leicester ewes as lambs at Naracoorte in November and joining them with a Poll Dorset ram in early December.
Andrew aims for heavy weights, rather than trade weights, of 55-60kg, selling them over the hooks.
But it is their focus on seeds that is the backbone of the business.
NEED FOR SEED
SMALL seeds form up to 70 per cent of income, grown on about 400ha of the property, producing clover seed, lucerne for hay and seed, aerial seeding crops of white clover, balansa and shaftal — and within each of these Andrew grows up to eight different varieties.
In addition, they produce wheat, barley and oats, and in past years vegetable seeds of cabbage and carrot.
“At any time we’ll be growing up to 20 different varieties of seeds and grains.
In the past 10 years Andrew has installed new seed processing equipment.
Andrew said he has long run a processing plant, but using old Hannaford machines. A decade ago they had a $200,000 upgrade to the sheds and plants, installing the latest air aspirators, Westrup seed cleaner, indent cylinder and gravity table.
“I can go to a seed company and take your basic line of seed, grow it, harvest it, clean it and bag it ready to go back out for sale without leaving the farm,” said the 50-year-old, adding that their focus is on their own seed, with a minimum of contract work.
VARIETY BASH
SOME of their seeds are proprietary, mainly for Heritage Seeds and occasionally PGG Wrightston Seeds, with the remainder public varieties available on the open market and sold predominantly to Naracoorte Seeds, who then sells locally, nationally and for export.
Andrew said while 2013 was a bumper year, the past two have been difficult, with this season one of the driest on record.
The area usually receives an average of about 304mm of rain in the crucial growing period from June to November, but in the past two years this has been down by as much as two-thirds.
“(It was) the toughest year I’ve seen on the farm,” said Andrew, who began working on the farm with his father straight out of school in 1983.
“We’re just not getting spring rain. We had one of the best set up seasons up until September and the crops were looking good, but we had no good late spring rains to finish it off.
“Traditionally we have a late May sowing but this year we started in mid-May and next year I think it will be early May. And we have to be careful with the varieties and crops we grow.”
SEASON SLAP
GIVEN the season, yields are suffering.
Half the seed crops are dryland, with Andrew currently irrigating 200ha from an underground aquifer.
In a good year dryland small seed crops yield 500-800kg/ha and in a bad year 100-200kg/ha “if we’re lucky”. In a good season irrigated crops reach up to 1.2 tonnes/ha, or in tough years 400-600kg/ha.
Wheat is generally 5-6 tonnes/ha, “but in a year like this” 700kg/ha with the highest being 2.5 tonnes/ha. Wheat yields 6-8 tonnes/ha under irrigation “but that is rare”.
Andrew said even though the season was dry, his next greatest challenge was threats to his irrigation entitlement.
He said there will be a 34 per cent reduction, which will be proportional over six to eight years, starting July.
“Financially it will have a massive impact on us. We’ll have to get the utmost from every paddock.”
STUBBLE RUSH
ABOUT seven years ago the Shepherds moved from conventional working to minimum till. They also use hay to control rye grass.
Rye grass resistance to chemicals is one of the biggest problems on the farm, which is solved with cereal hay now a major part of the business.
Seed harvest lasts up to five months, starting with aerial clovers and cereals in late November, followed by subclover, finishing with lucerne in late March.
Andrew has two fulltime staff and up to four casuals.
Seed processing can take between three to five months.
Once cleaned, seeds are sent for purity and germination testing in Adelaide, then released for sale.
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