June rain help turnaround winter crops for Tim Watson at Bonn

After no rain in May, almost 60mm in June has turned the season around for a Loddon Mallee cropping farmer.

Tim with his kids – 15yo Charles and 13yo Jasmine Watson and Pippa their Lab x Golden Retriever in the oats crop. Pictures: Zoe Phillips

Some June rain helped to turn around the season for Tim Watson in Victoria’s Loddon Mallee.

A 5th generation farmer in the area, Tim runs a 1500ha cropping operation at Bonn, with his kids Charles (15) and Jasmine (13) helping out where they can.

After no rain in May, Tim’s farm received nearly 60mm in June, and said they’ll take “whatever we can get” for any potential future rain.

“We got off to a late start, things are looking all right now but we’re probably six weeks behind where the crop should be,” Tim said.

“The crops didn’t come out of the ground until those June rains.

Tim’s property received nearly 60mm in June, after zero in May.

Tim said that going forwards they’d need a very favourable spring to reach average yields, being that they are so late.

Tim’s cropping mix is half wheat, and the other half a balance of oats, vegetables and beans.

“I didn’t put any canola in because of the lack of subsoil moisture, I thought that was too much of a risk, and we’ll probably have a bit more oat and hay in this year because of the dry start,” he said.

Tim said it’s pretty consistent for others in his area, with canola plantings down.