Christmas comes early for Wall family

It was a cause for double celebration for a northern Victorian family this week, as they wrapped up their 2023 harvest.

It will be a more relaxing Christmas for the Wall family this year, as they wrapped up the 2023 harvest on Monday.

After navigating heavy rain on Boxing Day last year, Simon Wall, who runs a 1000ha mixed-farm operation at Pine Lodge in northern Victoria with his twin brother Richard, is relieved to be finished.

Simon and his team crop canola, wheat and beans, while also running about 220 cows and about 1200 ewes.

“This season has been pretty good all things considered,” he said.

“Really it was too wet through the winter.

“We did suffer a few yield spots in places that it was too wet, but the October rain really pushed the yields along.”

L-R: Simon, 11yo Jacob, 13yo Sylvia, and Richard Wall finished harvest on Monday. Picture: Zoe Phillips

Simon finished with his canola yielding 2.5 tonnes a hectare, beans at about four to five tonnes, and wheat at five to six tonnes/ha, with no quality downgrades so far.

“We’ve been lucky in the last week or so that we haven’t had that much rain with the storms going around,” he said.

“When we were on canola it was a bit stop-start, but in the last week or two we’ve had a pretty good run.”

The end of harvest was a cause for double celebration, with Simon’s son, Jacob, turning 11, and daughter Sylvia, 13, also involved in the operations.

“We started harvest on my birthday, and we finished on his,” Simon said.

“(The kids) are trying to get involved in everything, which is great.”

L-R: 11yo Jacob and 13yo Sylvia are getting involved in everything. Picture: Zoe Phillips