In the Moree/Walgett areas there is not even a blade of green grass and struggling crops have only come up in patches.

Now I have a new hip I am pleased to be able to be more active around the farm but the wet and cold weather is not helpful for dagging and shearing. 

We’re waiting for our shearing team to finish the sheds they are at. We look like starting to dag at the end of the week then begin shearing the following week. We hope to get shearing over to take advantage of the good meat prices for old surplus sheep. 

We have shorn the weaners early following Bestwool/Bestlamb guidelines where fine wool is at its premium at 80 to 85 centimetres in length. Wool from our normal shearing will be over 100 centimetres and will suffer a discount for being too long. The weaner’s 16-17 micron fine wool sold last month for 1590 cents per kilogram, up 600 cents from last year. This is where the price of wool must be to encourage growers to keep producing fine wool.

Bill Miller, from Glenpaen Merino stud, called around during the shearing of the weaners and was impressed with the wool from the progeny of the stud he started.

The crops are wet. We are waiting to spray and spread urea. Hopefully, this rain band will pass without too much - we were nearly dry enough to carry the boom spray and urea truck. 

We still have most of the feed barley and oats in storage.  We cannot seem to get a bid for them. Normally we have a paddock for hay locked up by now but as we still have plenty of hay from last year I do not expect to need much. 

I am pleased to see an environmental flow down the Bungalally Creek. The 300-year-old red gums will appreciate a soaking and the chorus of the frogs indicate they were enjoying the water too. It is going to be a wet spring, the wood ducks are back in the trees breeding again.