Dam Rising Damn Sowing

The heavy rains have lifted the level in the dam quite considerably and the creek is flowing already.  This is over a month earlier than last year and of course will affect the sowing of our oaten hay crop.

We decided to sow later, as last year the second paddock’s seeding didn’t get rain or germinate for about 3 weeks, it was badly affected by weeds and didn’t grow as well.   It was also a juggling act to decide when to harvest and we were caught out by rains when baling in October, so by sowing later we could move harvest to November which is likely to be drier.

The rain has spurred on a thick layer of capeweed, so we had to spray a Glyphosate herbicide today so we can get the harrows through the ground to prepare the seed bed.  Last year we sowed before the capeweed germinated and used the lower toxicity selective herbicide Chlorsulfuron after the oats had sprouted.   UWA have just published a statement about glyphosate-resistant weed populations.

http://www.ahri.uwa.edu.au/news/General/How-to-break-glyphosate