Merrilong Pastoral Company – Background · Merrilong Pastoral Company – Background zDavid...
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Merrilong Pastoral Company Merrilong Pastoral Company – Background Background David Brownhill Grain farmer NSW Australia Director – Crop Optics Pty Ltd Nuffield Scholar Intoduction Intoduction Merrilong Pastoral Company 4735 hectares on the Liverpool Plains North West NSW The business is operated with my brother and his family Merrilong Pastoral company aims to be profitable whilst enhancing its environment Merrilong Pastoral Company Merrilong Pastoral Company Started in 1959 Originally sheep, fat lambs and cattle Cropping began in earnest in the late 60’s Summer cropping began in 1970’s No tillage first adopted in 1980’s Full no till system mid 1990’s Controlled traffic farming system 2003 Merrilong Pastoral Company Merrilong Pastoral Company Issues in the Farming System – Erosion – Hard to kill weeds – Glyphosate resistant Rye Grass – Reliance on herbicides – Crop disease – Heavy residue to plant into – High input farming system - nutrition Merrilong Pastoral Company Merrilong Pastoral Company Crops grown include bread wheat, durum wheat, faba beans, barley, sorghum, maize, feed corn, summer legumes and seed crops 3100 hectares of dryland farming land 900 hectares of irrigation ( pivot and flood) Grain Storage capacity of 12000 tonnes on farm Yields range from 0 to 10 tonnes per ha Planting into Residue
Transcript of Merrilong Pastoral Company – Background · Merrilong Pastoral Company – Background zDavid...
Merrilong Pastoral Company Merrilong Pastoral Company ––BackgroundBackground
David Brownhill Grain farmer NSW AustraliaDirector – Crop Optics Pty LtdNuffield Scholar
IntoductionIntoduction
Merrilong Pastoral Company4735 hectares on the Liverpool PlainsNorth West NSWThe business is operated with my brother and his familyMerrilong Pastoral company aims to be profitable whilst enhancing its environment
Merrilong Pastoral CompanyMerrilong Pastoral Company
Started in 1959 Originally sheep, fat lambs and cattleCropping began in earnest in the late 60’sSummer cropping began in 1970’sNo tillage first adopted in 1980’sFull no till system mid 1990’sControlled traffic farming system 2003
Merrilong Pastoral CompanyMerrilong Pastoral Company
Issues in the Farming System– Erosion– Hard to kill weeds– Glyphosate resistant Rye Grass– Reliance on herbicides– Crop disease– Heavy residue to plant into– High input farming system - nutrition
Merrilong Pastoral CompanyMerrilong Pastoral Company
Crops grown include bread wheat, durum wheat, faba beans, barley, sorghum, maize, feed corn, summer legumes and seed crops3100 hectares of dryland farming land900 hectares of irrigation ( pivot and flood)Grain Storage capacity of 12000 tonnes on farmYields range from 0 to 10 tonnes per ha
Planting into Residue
The header – To own or not to own
Managing the RiskManaging the Risk
Understand the risk – Winter harvestStaff opportunities– adding to own businessBusiness risk – Cash cost Core business- Grain productionAsset allocation - $ used elsewhereOpportunity costIrrigation and production
The HeaderThe Header
Approximately 250 - 300 hours per yearDepends on winter harvestUp to six headers – dilutes hours we can doIt is a numbers game
Sensitivity Analysis Sensitivity Analysis -- HeaderHeader
150 200 250 300
Cost per hour
$ 418 $ 313 $ 251 $ 209
Cost per hectare
$ 64 $ 48 $ 38 $ 32
The Risk The Risk –– managing itmanaging it
Harvest is a complete system -infrastructureStaff involvement OpportunityBest of both worlds, headers available and staff members growing a business
Opportunity CostOpportunity Cost
$ 400 000 invested @ 7.0% is $ 28 0004 year term $ 112 000This capital can be invested in other areas that return moreIrrigation etc
Benchmarking NumbersBenchmarking Numbers
Merrilong Farm 1 Farm 2Total Cost of plant owned / ha cropped
$ 129 $ 152 $ 109
Total Plant related cost / ha cropped
$ 171 $ 196 $ 138
BenchmarkingBenchmarking
Difference between Merrilong and Farm 2$ 33 per hectare croppedFarm 2 is $ 132000 better offIf Merrilong can pick up half the gain$ 66 000 net benefit per year
Rising Input CostsRising Input CostsAll crops are planted inter row – barley into sorghum stubble
Faba beans into corn stubble
