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Welcome to another edition

Welcome to another edition of the SLF. I hope you all had a wonderful week. Not much news crossed my desk last week so this week might be a bit short of funny stories, but lets see how we go…..

A full life

I returned to the district Monday week ago for the funeral of Dot Drum, the service was in the “vast” Catholic Church in Horsham and then the burial was atop the Banyena “hill” (cemetery). It then all moved to the Banyena Hall, I would have to describe it as a very full day for someone who lived a very full life. Well done to all involved.

Season looking good

It really is a pleasure to drive anywhere in the Eastern part of this vast land these day, most are celebrating a wonderful season with rain gauges overflowing with above average annual falls. I returned later this weekend, in fact I am writing this column from my makeshift desk in the Kanya hills and I can tell you I haven’t seen a season like this for at least 15 years. One can only hope that nothing gets in the way of the harvest and farmers can fill their pockets with the $$$$ they deserve.

Steak at the lake

The Marnoo Blues Supporters Group celebrated the filling of Lake Batyo Catyo with a bbq and get together for the local community. Apparently about 50 people attended and from what I hear everyone had a great day. I think once the weather warms up some more this will be a very popular venue for the Donald, Marnoo and St Arnaud communities. I remember as a youth heading out there on occasions but I never over frequented the place, but I do know of people that used to live out there on weekends and for those people the memories will be rekindled this summer.

Flood of 74

I was talking to a friend of mine who has a sheep, grain and rice property on the Billabong Creek just East of Moulamein in NSW. As you may or may not know the Billabong Creek is in flood after up to 10 inches Friday week ago in the catchment area. Apparently the flood is that vast that it has affected over 150,000 acres of crop at the time of writing. My friend is getting everything to high ground as he is expecting a flood to emulate both the 1956 and 1974 floods. I have also heard that the flood is moving at about half the pace they predicted due to all the heavy crop and pasture the water has to get through. Someone said it is only moving at about 6km a day.

Farm Talk

A word from the sponsor – www.thefarmtrader.com.au has moved into the social media space through its Farm Talk mini blog. It’s sorta like twitter in that people only have 200 characters in which to write their post. If you log in you will get all the latest news and a wide range of comments from many farming people. However most people operate under an alias name so often you might not know exactly who is writing the post There is even a couple of locals who contribute regularly, one such local operates under the “dumb farmer” name. All you need to do to contribute is join the site and away you go.

MCC

Not sure what happened in the cricket over the weekend but I am looking forward to the season getting under way. I must touch base with Gary “Larry” Cameron to get a rundown on how the season is taking shape. One can only hope that the Noo picks up a couple of recruits to bolster the stocks this season. All the best to the lads, let’s hope this season they can reach the finals…

Saddling up for another season

I was talking to Ross “Mallee” Loats the other day and the veteran is pulling on the pads for another season. Fair dinkum he was in his 50’s back when I was pulling on the creams for the Marnoo team. In fact I can remember a lot of funny trips to Bendigo country week. One such story that I still laugh about was when fellow cricketer Dwain “Daryl” Duxson used to turn on Old Mallee’s electric blanket during the night. If you can image how hot it is in Bendigo in February and I remember Loats waking up in a sweat abusing Duxson on many occasions. When Duxson retired from country week the baton was passed to another former Marnoo player, the naughty Hayden “Howard” McLennan continued the tradition in great style.

That all folks

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Hello again

I missed last week and I apologise for that, I write this column on a Monday morning and usually Monday mornings are reasonably hectic and some times I don’t get around to it. But that is no excuse, as I should manage my time better. But anyway I have missed deadlines in the past and will in the future and I probably should write this on a Sunday but some Sunday’s, as many of my readers would agree, is “frothy” day and the last thing you want to do is sit down at the computer and write whoopsy. Anyway I haven’t heard much from the district lately, so we will see how we go……

La Nina kicking in

After a dry period for a number of weeks it is good to see the rain return and the rain that fell in the Marnoo district is like gold for farmers. Many times in the last 15 years we have missed the filling rain but this year the season is back on track. I have just been told that at Henty (just South of Wagga Wagga) they had 8 inches for the week.

Ram sale break through the $1.2m barrier

As predicted this seasons Marnoo rams sale reached record heights with a $1.2 million dollar gross for the seven studs that sold rams during the week. An amazing effort and really the week is as big as ever even though there are fewer studs around now. I think the move to all on-property sales will pay handsome dividends in the years to come. Apart from the studs directly involved and perhaps the Navy Blues Supporters Group it’s a pity that other businesses around town couldn’t benefit from the week. Thinking caps on….

Hectic harvest ahead

I was listening to a header contractor on the radio and he says it takes nearly three times as long to harvest a well above average crop than it does a below average one. Going by how the crops look this year and if nothing goes wrong, boy is there going to be some grain around and boy is it going to take time, on those numbers the contactor revealed. But if you rely on contractors then this year is the year to have your own header, truck and chaser bin as the crops in other areas are just as good or if not better.

A word from the sponsor

I have heard that some brands of canola seed (for the new sowing season) is getting scarce and I have also heard of some people that are ordering their fertiliser now because they think the price might go up. Only speculation but that is what I have heard. With that in mind there is no better time than to give Product Tender a go, remember it’s free and you remain anonymous. Don’t forget to get some quotes on fuel for harvest time and make sure those tanks are full. There would be nothing worse than waiting for fuel over harvest. To get involved in Product Tender just JOIN NOW > MY PROFILE > PRODUCT TENDERS > LIST SOMETHING TO TENDER. After that all you do is click on view to keep and eye on your tender every 2^nd day. Any problems or further info call Dwain on 0427 011900 www.thefarmtrader.com.au Remember sometime it’s the money you save is the money you make….perhaps not as applicable this year……

Cheers for now

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Hello Hello

Welcome to another edition of the SLF. This week we are gearing up for Marnoo’s biggest event, the annual Ram Sales and for the first time since it all started there will be no sale down at the MCG. It’s testament to all the studs which have now “graduated” to on-property sales. Tuesday is Belbourie, Oakbank and Banavie, Wednesday Shonic and Glendemar and Thursday is Wallaloo Park. All the best and it will be interesting to see gross takings for the week.

Corporate Cup

I am convinced that Wallaloo’s corporate cup has established itself as the premier event on the “Royal’s” calendar, forget the tournament, legacy day etc, the corporate cup is an absolute winner. 18 teams went around which in itself was a huge effort considering the grand final was on. The course was in the best condition I have ever seen it and is a real credit to the curators. The lunch, ladies take a bow, was sensational as per usual and the crowd was entertained from go to woe. Well done to all and I am now looking forward to next years event. Can’t wait.

And the winner is….

I am very proud to announce that SLF’s major sponsor and financier thefarmtrader.com.au is this years winner of the much sought after corporate cup. The team which consisted of Rod “Rocket” Reading, Stewart “Smacka” MacPherson, Trevor “Srixon” Tagget and Dwain “Daryl” Duxson took the honours with an exceptional 12 under the card. Well done to all.

Can they count…

12 under is an exceptional score and it was suggested by John “Noisy” Nisbet that The Farm Trader team had a little trouble counting, but as counter and scribe I can assure Marnoo’s fastest ever bowler that everything was above board.

Here we go Howard

It was past the stroke of midnight when former native Hayden “Howard” McLennan suggest that I had to write in this little column “out of 2 you would give it 1” 10 times. Out of 2 you would give it 1, out of 2 you would give it 1, out of 2 you would give it 1, out of 2 you would give it 1, out of 2 you would give it 1, out of 2 you would give it 1, out of 2 you would give it 1, out of 2 you would give it 1, out of 2 you would give it 1. There we go Howard and apologies to the rest of the viewing audience who had to read this. I guess you had to be there.

Who won the belt?

Nobody cares about who won the golf, all you readers want to know it who won the belt for the evening. Well this year I am going to give to the team from Adelaide led by our very own Gary “Larry” Cameron. I just want to point out that Larry was the responsible one out of this crew after the let them out of the city of churches. Very very responsible bloke is our Larry

Herbie steps down

Money manager “Herbie” Duxson has stepped down from his post of organising the Thursday night do’s at the Royal. He wants to now concentrate on the pending cricket season. Well done to Herbie as it was once again a job well done.

Celebrating 50 years

The “Royal” is celebrating its 50^th year and they are planning a big lunch on the 17^th of October. So if you have had anything to do with the WGC over the last 50 years come along to the “White House”. You will need to let Lyle “Chopper” Johnson know for catering purposes, ring him on 03 53592284 (BH) and 03 53592324 (AH)…Chop, chop

Battling against time

Grain Guru Bruce “Boofhead” Hendy is battling against time to clear all the grain stocks from his Mt Bolangum Grain Storage Centre in time for harvest. Harvest is probably a little way off yet as we think the season will draw out and start a little bit later this season….but you should all know the rule about starting harvest….

Harvest will start when…

We all know rule number one in the Marnoo district when it comes to the harvest start date. “Harvest will officially start 10 days after Brian “Farmer” Healy and John “Wally World” Carter first pull the header into a crop”. HOWZAT

Saving $$$$ on fuel

The Farm Trader not only had a win in the golf last week it also had a win for a couple of clients who bought fuel through the newly designed Product Tender system. One client at Moulamein saved 8 cent over 30,000 litres of diesel he bought and another local client said he saved at least 8 cents on his diesel and 7 cents on his unleaded. So give it a go as they have fuel distributors hungry to get you the best deal. All you do is join the site, then go to MY PROFILE > PRODUCT TENDER > LIST DOMETHING TO TENDER. It’s free, you have nothing to lose and also you remain anonymous. www.thefarmtrader.com.au Also the boss has noticed that not many Marnoo people have joined up for The Farm Trader, all you do is go to join now and fill out the form, takes about 1 minute. So get into it….

Talk soon