Rochester cropping farmers wait for spring rain

Father and son duo Peter and Patrick Ward say decent spring rain will help finish off their canola crop. This is how they managed their season.

Decent spring rain will help finish off the canola crop on Peter and Patrick Ward’s Rochester property.

The father and son duo are growing canola, barley, wheat, vetch and lucerne on their mixed-farming operation, with about 600ha of canola in total.

Patrick said the 455ha canola crop they were pictured in would get irrigated at the end of the season to finish it off.

Peter Ward and his son Patrick in their canola crop at Rochester. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

“It was just the paddock it ended up in because of our crop rotations. We have some irrigated vetch as well, but we haven’t had to irrigate it yet,” he said.

“We are sitting pretty well in terms of the season, we have had 10-15mm rain events that keep topping us up.”

“Now the crops are bigger and bulking up, they will draw more moisture, so we are hoping for some good spring rain.”

Patrick said when the canola was sown it was into marginal moisture, which meant it split germination, but it appeared to have caught up.

“Three weeks after we planted it, we got rain, and it started off slow but it has started to take off now.”

He said all of their crops were looking good and healthy, with fungicide sprays about to begin.

“We are set up for a good season, we just need that good rain to finish.”

Peter Ward and his son Patrick in their canola crop at Rochester. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

Patrick said they normally sold their canola straight off the header if the price was reasonable and last year they stored a lot of wheat, which they were still selling.

“The wheat price hasn’t been as good as it was last harvest, but hopefully it is on the rise.”

“Canola prices are up on what they were, last year it was about $630 a tonne at harvest, and by all reports it will hopefully climb higher.”

The Wards also milk 1000 dairy cows and grow corn and sorghum for silage.