ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
A few weeks ago, Wilson Bransby of “Top Conbar” on the Betoota City Limits felt in his gut that there was rain on the way – so he did what any self-respecting Simpson Desert grazier would do.
He got in the Chamberlain, hooked up the chisel plough and ripped every bit of arable land up on his spread.
And a few days later, he got 280 points on it.
“I had a bit of a laugh to myself when I heard the first raindrops on the roof,” he said.
The 54-year-old primary producer sat down with The Advocate this morning while the timing belt in his Toyota got replaced.
“That was bad timing, I could’ve left it until later in the year but if it broke on me, I’d really be fucked,”
“Anyway, on the back of that recent rain we got at the fact I’d torn every paddock up half-way to China, I put a crop and that got a good lick of rain on it. It needs a bit more before the end of winter but it could be worse. This is the first good rain we’ve had in two years, so I’m throwing the kitchen sink at it.”
Wilson expects it to be a great crop, the best he’s grown in almost a decade, he says.
However, he’s convinced himself that just before he strips it, he’s going to get 300-points on it.
“It’s not the end of the world,” he sighed.
“There’s always the option of watching it shoot through and selling it for feed. I had to sell almost all my ewes last year to keep the lights on so I won’t have many lambs to run on it. I’ve got a few wethers but I reckon it’d be wasted on them,”
“Or I could just burn it? Only time will tell, mate.”
When asked by our reporter what he’d do if it didn’t get rained on and he was able to enjoy a decent harvest for a change, Wilson said he’d cross that bridge when he got to it.
“I’ll probably just go to Noosa and spend the whole time pacing up and down the beach because my neighbour rang to say it was raining and I’m stuck on the coast spending money when I could be putting a crop in,”
“But yeah, I know not to count my chickens before the fox inevitably gets in and ruins everything.”
More to come.
