Inverleigh farmer welcomes autumn break

Farmers are set to measure up to 50mm of rain in the gauge this week, after heavy falls across parts of Victoria on Monday with more expected to arrive in the coming days.

The rain outlook this week is perfectly timed for Inverleigh livestock and cropping farmer Martin Clark.

Martin was anticipating 40mm to 50mm of rain to arrive at his property, located in the western district of southern Victoria, early this week.

“We had been waiting for an autumn break for sowing, which traditionally starts around Anzac Day,” he said.

Martin plans to sow pasture, red wheat, white wheat, barley and lupins.

Despite receiving rain late last year and in January, conditions had become progressively dry in recent times, and rain was needed to boost the soil moisture profile.

The 1600ha property receives an average annual rainfall of 580mm to 600mm.

Martin has three sheep studs under the prefix of ProBreed and also runs 7000 commercial ewes.

Martin Clark of Murnong Farming at Inverleigh. Picture: Zoe Phillips

The focus is on producing sheep with a high lambing percentage of 185 to 190, which is measured at weaning.

The prime lambs are turned off when they weigh 22 to 24kg carcass weight and are sold through forward contracts over the hooks directly to processors.

“The lamb market is very up and down, and for us, it is important to diversify; we have crops and a piggery as well,” he said.

Meat and Livestock Australia’s trade lamb indicator for Victoria is currently at 620.87c/kg, an increase of 29.08c/kg in the past week but still down 91.15c/kg from this time last year.

Martin said the impact of an autumn break would likely affect grain prices.

He said wheat prices could fall by up to $50 a tonne if a substantial autumn break arrived and instilled confidence on the domestic market.

He anticipated there was still quite a large amount of carry-over grain from harvest last year, possibly stored on the farm.

“At the moment, wheat is in the low $300/tonne range, and barley might get down to around $260/tonne,” he said.