Giddings Hay Farming in Lowood, Queensland | Farm

Giddings Hay Farming

Locality: Lowood, Queensland

Phone: +61 417 196 482

Address: 704 Clarendon Rd 4311 Lowood, QLD, Australia

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25.01.2022 Hello all , Another new month and still dry here. 2.5 mm total out of rain events in the past 10 days. We still have some irrigation water being used to keep some lucerne going and also kicking off watering Rhodes grass as well. ( irrigating 16 out of 40 acres of lucerne and 6 out of 45 acres of Rhodes ) I’m still optimistic looking forward to at least some storm rain in the coming months. ... We will need some help as the weather warms up. Fine and hot this week so some haymaking action happening. Some stressed out Barley and a nice block of lucerne that’s been pampered with irrigation water over the past 6 weeks. Once again we are trying to keep up supply to the regular customers ,and have limited capacity to handle any extra sales at present. I appreciate its a difficult time to source hay. Generally dealers will have something available,at a price. It’s all supply and demand at its finest. I haven’t set any prices on lucerne or barley hay but will be done once it’s baled. Hope you all are managing these dry times ok. Looking forward to some decent rain soon Look after yourselves,, Cheers Ray See more

25.01.2022 A little rain update ,, Great to hear of some good falls around eastern Australia but unfortunately here on the farm we’ve only had a total 17 mm in 3 falls over the past 3 days Very disappointed , but at least there’s moisture around and hopefully a sign of better days ahead. No rain No hay

22.01.2022 October 2020. Wow where did that month go ?? And yes we are still waiting for the rain! A Typical dry and hot September just gone. The BOM are talking up the La Niña season ahead, we are all looking forward to a wet season. ... We have now completed all Beardless Barley Haymaking and have good stocks of Small squares and 4x4 rounds available. Still some small squares of prime /good rhodes grass available too. Due to dry conditions we have no lucerne available , I see some getting made around the valley in the past week so it’s not as scarce as it was now the days are getting longer and weather is warming up. So it’s all pretty quiet here ,waiting for the wet season to set in Hay available Good Rhodes squares $13 Good Beardless Barley squares$13 Beardless Barley Rounds $120 Keep well people , Cheers Ray. See more

22.01.2022 Here we are in Spring again. As per usual we are getting a hot dry week to kick the season off. We’ve had no rain and now the temperatures is rising putting irrigated crops under stress. We are relying on underground water supplies which are slowly dwindling. I think if there’s no break in the weather over Spring we will be having to shut down the little irrigation supply we have left. Let’s hope for some storm rain coming through. Thankfully we have no livestock to care f...or. We have made Barley hay over the past few weeks and some of the best lucerne hay I’ve ever made as well. The dry westerly winds certainly help in the haymaking process. Demand for hay supplies is high along with prices, with barley available and selling at $19 ex farm and lucerne all sold out @$24. We have more barley hay to make in the month ahead so should have it available til the end of October. The plan would be to get rain storms by this time and there will be feed in abundance for all. Some photos of the dry crops so people realise it’s not all green in the valley. Irrigation is expensive but makes all the difference I am sure you will agree. Take care, and thanks for your interest. Cheers Ray. See more

22.01.2022 1st September 2020 Good afternoon all,a nice warm couple of days bringing in the Spring season. We are hearing upbeat talk of a good seasonal rain outlook for the coming months. Bring it on I say. These hot days are absolutely crucifying any crops relying on irrigation water. ... Yesterday I cultivated in a couple of dry land blocks of barley that were obviously not going to make the distance. On the hay making front it’s been great weather for making barley hay and there has been plenty made around south east Queensland in the past few weeks,and more to come off yet. Great news for the end user as this plentiful supply has put downward pressure on prices for barley hay and and other lucerne alternative lines. As usual at this time of year , the weather heats up and generally no good rain for another month at least. That’s why barley hay is produced so it will interesting to see if it clears out before the big rains come ........if they come. After last years extreme shortages of hay I see a lot of hay sellers in the game now , plenty to pick from delivered and stacked in your shed. Lucerne hay is still short on supply so relatively expensive. Lucerne is reliant on irrigation an after last few years of dry , it’s only the farmers with good water supplies able to continue production. There’s also good supply in southern states but transport up here costs $$ Anyways I have work to do so I wish you all well , let’s hope the Covid issues disappear and wet season eventuates and we can all get to a normal lifestyle again soon. Keep well Cheers Ray See more

20.01.2022 Update Dec 16 2019, A few enquiries about the wet weather, Some storms over the last week have completely missed us. NO RAIN AT ALL Hot week ahead too.... Have a great Christmas and farewell to 2019. Cheers Ray See more

18.01.2022 Here we are December 2019,,, Dry seems to be a ongoing theme again. No doubt everyone is aware it was a very hot and dry November. Due to diminishing underground water levels we have now ceased irrigation of hay crops with no more hay been made until significant rain comes. We have been producing irrigated hay crops on this farm for the past 30 years with water shortages and floods bringing challenges a times. ... This is the hardest dry period we’ve had and hopefully good soaking rains come soon. In the meantime I see a lot of hay being trucked in from north and south making up for the local shortages. It is very fortunate this hay supply is available as it is filling the local shortage and capping prices as well. I’m guessing the usual issues of quality and weights/value will be a concern plus the risks of new to our area weed species being introduced as well. I thank you all for you’re interest in the hay farming and hope you are surviving these hard seasons ok. We are all looking forward to softer seasons ahead. I’ll be catching up on some projects and maintenance as well as a bit of off farm work to keep things ticking over. Let us all make the best of what we have and enjoy the festive season ahead with friends and family. Merry Christmas to all and I’ll catch you next year. Cheers Ray. See more

18.01.2022 APRIL 2020 Hello all ,, challenging times ahead it seems. Here on the farm there’s no real change except for the uncertainties that lie ahead with the countries health and the economy. We are still coping with drought and water shortages. The good rain of February gave us a decent cut of Rhodes grass which is now baled up and in the shed. (Squares only available @$16 inc gst. Limits apply)... Unfortunately there was no real runoff to fill dams so we are back to square one in regard to irrigating crops. The farm is looking nice and green but rapidly drying out now with shorter days and cooler nights slowing growth as well. Very little lucerne will be available , too dry, too thin from the drought. I have planted 10 acres of barley on the moisture from the February rain. A bit early to plant really but worth a try with good moisture profile. Will be July/August before it’s is hayed. I also have some cowpea struggling along with sucking insects limiting growth. So it’s very much steady as she goes and hoping for rain. Sorry not to have any real positive news to report. Hay supplies are short so prices are remaining high with no end in sight. Personally in these uncertain times I’m very thankful to be out here farming and hope this worldwide health crisis is but a momentary glitch in our lives. Good luck to you all. Hope you are not affected too badly. Keep Well Ray. See more

18.01.2022 November 2019 Another month has arrived and getting closer to drought-breaking rains. We have had some minor rainfall last month totalling 40 mm over 3 falls. This gave us some hope but in reality didnt go far in the extremely dry soil conditions. Nice where we had any irrigated crops growing though. Irrigation bore levels are dropping away and this coupled with hotter temperatures has brought us to the point of shutting down irrigation until worthwhile rain occurs. ( Exc...ess of 100 mm) There seems to be a little more hay being advertised online,and some prices appear to have eased a little which must be welcome by the consumers. Once again quality is generally tied to price so check hay personally before committing to purchase. The Barley hay season is about done with. (We are out) This means a shortage of cheaper type local hay as the summer choices of millet / Forage Sorghum and the like are only just recently been planted and will be at least 6 weeks away from haymaking. Of course there is still hay coming in from North Queensland and Victoria which has good supply. At least this takes the pressure off us locally as it is stressful trying to grow hay under these hard conditions and keep supply up to the demand. We will be making some lucerne and rhodes hay in the next week or so and that will be it for a while. Surely it will rain this summer!! On the farm I’ve been keeping out of mischief doing a few repairs and general farm stuff and have started desilting our water catchment sump ready for the the big wet. Our main workhorse tractor is due for its 10,000 hr service so I’ll take advantage of the time to do that as well. The boom irrigator is overdue for major repairs too,so perhaps it’s a good time to launch into it. Hope alls well with you and good rain is coming your way. Keep well people , Cheers Ray See more

16.01.2022 Good morning all,, Beautiful weather here with cool mornings and warm days. A couple of very light frosts in the last few days. We had a total of 26 mm in the rain last weekend. Very lucky to get that and it will help the barley crops to a good finish. The early planted barley has now been baled and is selling well, we have quite a bit more to make so will have it available for the next few months. As predicted lucerne hay is in short supply chiefly due to the lack of avai...lable irrigation over dry summer killing off many lucerne blocks. At least there’s good supplies of alternative hay available. Much better than last year with plenty to pick from in the marketplace. I visited a local produce the other day for research purposes looking a prices and quality offered. Good quality hay seems to be a bit scarce. It seems the dealers need to trade in the lesser grades to keep prices lower. There has been a lot of poor quality grass hay in rounds made after the wet February.Have a good look at what you are buying. There is good quality grass and cereal hay out there now. Hope all is going well or at least ok for you all with the current Covid issues. It’s made very little difference here but does put a general damper on everyone’s enthusiasm. Cheers for nowRay See more

16.01.2022 Updated Hay prices 01 September 2020 Barley Hay now in good supply All prices include GST Invoice supplied. ... Good green soft rhodes squares $13 Mixed grass with 10%lucerne sold out Beardless Barley squares freshly baled $13 4x4 rounds...............$130 4x3 rounds...............$70 Good Green Rhodes for horses 4x4 rounds $130 Coarse Green Rhodes for paddock horses or cattle $80 Phone or text Ray 0417196482 to arrange pickup from farm at Clarendon near LOWOOD 4311

12.01.2022 June 03 2020 Wednesday morning. A little cool this morning but no frost as yet. Very quiet at this time of the year and more so this year with the Corona restrictions in place. I’ve still plenty of projects to finish off , currently working on a irrigator which was a project in 2011 when the floods went through and interrupted. Have cleaned out and reformed the turkey nest dam too so it’s looking shmick. ... Still dry and now it’s winter it’s fair to expect further dry conditions for the next three months. I see the BOM is talking up a wet winter which I suspect could be a Victoria and Southern NSW thing. We will see. Here on the farm we have been putting the irrigation water we do have into getting a barley hay crop going. The early planted barley hasn’t enjoyed the warm start but is doing ok having a second irrigation on it now and hopefully will made into hay around mid July. The one lucerne block we have is sitting dormant and dry as is the Rhodes grass. Hopefully come Spring we’ll get good rain to kick things along. Our Hay stocks are limited to some Cow pea squares @$18. Rhodes grass squares $18 and rounds $140/$180 at the moment.Barley by mid/late July. Price wise I see lucerne around $22/$24 on farm but hard to find stocks. (Those Prices include gst ) Rhodes prices vary greatly with the quality. $11/$18 on farm There’s a steady stream of North Queensland Rhodes Rounds coming into SEQ. Once again the Price and Quality varies so I see 4x3 for $77 to $100 and 4x4 $100/$140. We haven’t been advertising any hay , just looking after regular customers where we can and hoping to get through winter without running out of stock completely. Seems to be a good time to appreciate what we do have and not set the expectation bar too high. Thank you for your interest , and I hope things are all working out for you and your endeavours. Cheers Ray.

11.01.2022 Saturday arvo 02 May2020, Good afternoon,, Trust you are all well and not gone bonkers yet. I have been keeping busy as ever ( or maybe I’m slowing down) Always seems to be work stacked up. ... May has brought colder weather right on cue. No rain worth mentioning in the past month so it’s gone back to very dry here on the farm. We are still irrigating crops in a very limited fashion as the bore water supply is at best meagre. Enough to keep some barley growing is about all. At least the wet February gave us some hay to make and further irrigate another cut on some Rhodes grass. As mentioned It’s dry It’s cold It’s going to be slim pickings for fresh made hay of any type til the barley gets made come August. I am making a small amount of cow pea hay which is a popular substitute for lucerne. We have a good amount of nice rhodes grass in the shed which I hope to make last through winter. Very little of anything else apart from Round Rhodes committed to a regular customer. The ongoing drought conditions are certainly getting past a joke and I know some are hurting financially with the Covid issues we are dealing with at the moment. I am certainly hoping things all get back to normal balance soon and we can all make some plans with certainty. Cheers and good luck in your endeavours. Ray See more

09.01.2022 Little rain update Nice to see some wet weather happening around in places. We’ve had a total of 51 mm over the past 4days which has been nice steady light rain so no runoff. Still hoping for a decent fall or two yet before this is over. We need at least another 50 mm to get crops going and 100 or more to run water into dams. ... Hope you are getting your share. Cheers Ray See more

09.01.2022 November 2 2020 Gday all ,, Well at last we’ve had some worthwhile rain and no damage so one can’t complain about that. 130 mm over about 10 days of unsettled weather. A little hail but nothing to worry about. ... Very nice rain but we do need a lot more to fill dams and add to underground aquifer. The lucerne and rhodes grass paddocks are responding well but have some catching up to do after the prolonged drought we’ve been going through. It’s so good to see the countryside turning green at last. Let’s hope the forecast wet summer comes to fruition and we can all get back to ‘ normal’. Not much haymaking happening but hopefully in about 3 weeks time it will be all go. What’s in the shed ? There’s good RHODES GRASS SQUARES @$12stored since March. We have been getting great response and feedback on this hay. Very good all day everyday feed. RHODES GRASS ROUNDS 4x4 various grades from $80 to $120. All horse suitable Price drop to $12 now it’s rained. BEARDLESS BARLEY SQUARES@$12 Stock limited on these. Very attractive hay. BEARDLESS BARLEY ROUNDS 4x4 &$120 Very attractive hay. 2ND Grade BEARDLESS BARLEY ROUNDS 4x4 $100 Nice fine hay a bit drought affected so some bleach. Great everyday feed in those bare paddocks/yards. LUCERNE. Limited stock of good fine lucerne slight bleach $19. Any hay enquiries 0417196482 Thanks for looking and liking. I’m happy to report some rain at last and hope you all have received a nice drop and haven’t had damage. Looking forward to the years end and a clean start to next year. Good luck in your endeavours , Cheers Ray.

07.01.2022 July2020. Hello all, A beautiful time of year here on the farm, mild winter weather, and the barley crops we have planted and irrigated are looking a picture. The 20 mm of rain we had a couple of weeks ago has really hit the spot. Unfortunately not enough to kick lucerne along and as it hasn’t been irrigated ,there’s no prospect of lucerne hay being made in the next few months. After a quiet couple of months on the haymaking front some barley which was planted very ea...rly in the season has matured enough to mow down and make hay. At this time of year haymaking is a slow process with the short days , low temperatures , foggy mornings all conspiring to slow down the curing process. Regarding hay in stock we have very good rhodes grass in squares and some rounds as well in a couple of grades. No lucerne hay of any type. Beardless Barley squares should be available by the 06/07/20 weather permitting. Looking at the hay market there seems to be plentiful supplies of lower grade grass and forage hays available locally. Also FNQ rhodes grass being transported in.A lot of this is in 4x3 rounds and mostly good quality. Prime lucerne and better lines of grassy lucerne and prime rhodes are in shorter supply and prices much higher for quality. See separate post for prices /availability. The water shortages and corresponding hay shortage drags on. We can only hope that come spring we will get better rain events and hay supplies will free up with supply / demand being easier. Hope alls well in your world Cheers Ray. See more

07.01.2022 We've had a hectic week making hay with challenging weather conditions and a few mechanical issues to deal with. Hay is now safely packed away and we have assessed the hay /market and availability. Currently the outlook is for lucerne type hays to be very short in supply as irrigation water is still scarce and drought affected paddocks have thinned out significantly affecting yields even when rain occurs. Grass hay has done well with the rain and is currently in good supply... however it is coming to the end of its growing season so even with more rain ,future cuts will be on the decline coming into winter. Prices /Availability Fine green lucerne with slight grass (<5%grass) Short supply @$22 limits apply Grassy grassy lucerne(90% grass) Short supply@$18 limits apply Soft green rhodes grass adequate supply@$16 All prices include GST, Contact phone or text Ray on 0417196482 View pics in Comments See more

06.01.2022 Sunday 02/02/2020( scary date that what’s the hidden meaning ) Good day all, We’ve had a bit of haymaking the past week , the first in this year. It was good to get out and give the machinery a bit of a run. As reported previously , we’ve had very little rain in the past month,(23mm)... Enough to supplementary irrigate 7 Ha of rhodes grass which we’ve now turned into hay. The lucerne blocks are mostly surviving but not producing hay. 6 Ha of lucerne hasn’t survived and is now cultivated out ready for a new crop once it rains properly. I hear of better rain reports up the valley so one would think there may be some lucerne hay getting made in the past few days. Quality will most likely be down due to weather conditions. I’ve been keeping out of mischief with some mechanical repair work and welding / fabricating with a good list of stuff to do yet. Really hoping for a wet Feb/March to get things cranking again here on the farm. Hope you are all having a good start to 2020 and the weather is treating you right. Cheers Ray. See more

06.01.2022 March 2020 Autumn ! I’m guessing most people have had pretty good rain over February just gone. It was certainly a welcome break from the dry. On the Farm here at Clarendon we ended up with about 150 mm total which fell over 3 weeks and the biggest fall of only 23 mm. This was terrific for growing hay , with the dry ,dead ,looking grass and lucerne paddocks responding quite well considering. ... The great news is we can make some hay again, and with this current promised 4 days of fine weather and only slight showers late week I’m sure every hay farmer is flat out trying to get hay made in the next few days. The rain was certainly good but locally here has not run any water into dams or recharged underground supplies. So this cut of hay coming in this week will be the best supply onto the market in quite some time. The wet weather has caused good growth of hay and no opportunity to make hay so consequently every acre of hay is ready to mow at one time. Once again if we get no good follow up rain ,crops will be suffering again and shortages will be back. Prices seem to have eased a bit with more on the market , but sheds are empty as well so I wouldn’t expect huge price drops. I expect to bale a variety of hay over the next few days and will post up what I have and prices later in the week. I recently took delivery of a hay Tedder rake which is proving to be a great help in speeding up the drying process. I must say I’ve been very impressed with this machine and wonder why I didn’t get one years ago. Particularly useful in grass and cereal crops it is used to spread fresh wet hay out to dry before reforming into rows to be raked. Great when time is against you in the haymaking process. So it’s all go this week on farm and hopefully we will get more worthwhile rain in the month ahead and those sheds get filled before winter. Cheers to all,,Ray.

06.01.2022 Happy New Year people,, Update 01/01/20 As mentioned previously we had 30 mm of rain just before Christmas. This was certainly a welcome relief from the extreme hot dry weather of the previous months. A few people are enquiring about fresh hay supplies now we’ve had rain. ... Unfortunately with crops being so dry the rain we had has made little impression apart from helping some plants survive a little longer. Existing stands of lucerne have either succumbed to the dry or very much under strain. One would hope we get good rain (200 mm plus)in the next 3 months and good follow up. Then it’s a case of seeing what hay crops have survived and replanting those that haven’t. It’s very much a waiting for decent rain game. Sorry I have no great news, No hay available for sale. Hoping everyone has had a great festive season break and that 2020 will be the breaking of the big drought and fire season. Good luck to you and yours, Happy 2020, Cheers Ray. Pics taken today show what little difference 30 mm made.

05.01.2022 Freshly baled prime lucerne now available. $23 ex shed. includes gst. Prices have eased slightly even though its drier than ever. We have now stopped irrigation of lucerne and hoping for a wet summer Phone or text Ray 0417196482 for details.

02.01.2022 Well that was a nice Christmas present. 30mm rainfall total for Christmas Eve and a shower overnight last night as well. By no means drought breaking but a pleasant change and hopefully the start of better days ahead.. Hope you all had some as well!!

02.01.2022 You like mowing Here’s a video