Farmers are funny creatures (me included!). Leading up to the break of the season we’re all bemoaning the fact it hasn’t rained and how much we need it. We scan the skies, the weather sites on the internet and listen intently when The Country Hour weather report is on.
Finally it rains. The country starts to spring to life, the sheep are just starting to get the taste of green grass again … and out comes some well-meaning bloke with a boom spray to kill it all! (That’s the croppers!)
The contrast between the two paddocks, in this photo, is a similar thing. The Sprayed off paddock, about two weeks ago, was lush and green. The clover (which is a wonderful feed for both cattle and sheep) was about up to my ankles; we kept it the shortest paddock of feed on the farm because Anthony knew he wanted to spray it out.
The green one has clover about three inches higher than my ankle and we’ve just turned off heaps of lambs from here.
The sprayed paddock will be seeded to sorghum very soon – as soon as the ground temperature hits 16 degrees. It will then begin to grow a lush green crop ready for the cattle to eat in summer.
The green paddock will look very much like the sprayed one in summer and we’ll all be saying … “I wish it would rain!’
What a great photo. Farmers are always caught in the middle really – too much rain, not enough rain, or rain at the wrong time. But spring is certainly beautiful.
Hey Fleur, I never realised you grew so much clover on your cultivations over in WA. It grows in winter with other native medics in our part of the world, however only a few of our cultivations get overrun with it. Instead we have a pot pouri of weeds to contend with mainly because what used to be sheep country has few mobs left and the sheep kept the weed population under control.
Nicole x