Storms wreak harvest havoc

WA farmers are counting the cost of hail damage, quality downgrades and the need for summer weed controls after more freak weather events last week.

Wickepin farmer Clinton Hemley was battered with rain and hail across his two properties, one 10km north of town and one directly south.

He said about 2pm on Thursday, hailstones the size of golf balls fell across both properties, lasting only slightly longer than a minute.

His north Wickepin property then had a second battering by hail about 5.30pm the same day.

He said the crop was not a total write-off but damaged heads meant yields would inevitably be affected on the remaining 750ha of Mace and Yitpi wheat yet to be harvested.

Having never made a hail claim before, Mr Hemley is unsure of the damage but is guessing losses range between 10 and 40 per cent.

"Prior to harvest our yields were above 3tonnes/ha. Since starting harvest again last Sunday afternoon, our yields so far are 200-300kg/ha less," he said.

Heavy rainfall at the same time has prompted concerns about sprouting, though windy conditions over the weekend have boosted Mr Hemley's hopes that the crops would dry quickly.

His northern property had 18mm while the property south of Wickepin received an estimated 30mm of rainfall.

"The rain was coming in hard and horizontal on the southern property. It only lasted 10 minutes and was hard to accurately measure as the gauge was full and overflowing," Mr Hemley said.

A concern is that grains could start sprouting, particularly as his farms had 7-10mm rainfall a fortnight earlier.

"The crops were looking as though they were drying out from that rain event - but that changed last week," Mr Hemley said.

He said his varieties of wheat were considered quite resilient to sprouting so he is keeping his fingers crossed that this will not occur.

At a neighbouring property south of Wickepin, Michael Green considers himself fortunate he had only 150ha of his wheat crop left to harvest when he received two sessions of hail and more than 30mm of rain last Thursday.

He said hailstones at his property were up to 20mm in diameter and that it was the heaviest rain and strongest winds he had seen in his lifetime.

Also about to make his first hail insurance claim, Mr Green estimates the damage would equate to about a 10-20 per cent loss in yields.

Before the hail, his Mace wheat crop was yielding about 3t/ha after a strong growing season.

"We were lucky in a sense that the rain came first, it softened the wheat which increased its resilience against the hail," he said.

Meanwhile, further south at Kukerin, Barry Gray said 30mm and hail last Thursday followed by 20mm and hail on Friday has caused damage to the remaining 300-400ha of Mace wheat and Hindmarsh barley.

"I haven't had hail for 15 years, then I got it twice in two days," he said.

Although not yet formally assessed, Mr Gray estimates there is about 20 per cent hail damage across his crops. A big issue for Mr Gray is the quality of grain which was already affected after 100mm that fell on October 21.

"We've had a few rain events and the remaining heads are starting to look dark and black," he said.

Before last week's rain events all barley had yielded more than 3/t ha, while wheat was not yet being harvested. Despite these set backs, Mr Gray is relatively optimistic.

"Yields are still good and prices are improving," he said.

Nyabing farmer Ben Hobley said his property south of town received up to 68mm. Further north some Nyabing famers received more than 100mm.

Mr Hobley also had some hail but not enough damage to warrant a claim.

He had finished his barley program and was about to start his 2000ha wheat program when last week's downpour arrived.

He said it was still too early to assess the extent of quality damage across the Mace and Yitpe wheats, but said the fact it followed 20mm a few weeks earlier made him particularly nervous.

At Borden, Paul O'Meehan said he received between 22mm and 70mm rainfall in different parts of the farm, when just a third of the way through his harvest last week.

He also received some hail but said this was not severe enough to make a claim.

Mr O'Meehan was harvesting his Bass and Hindmarsh barley and achieving malt grade despite several earlier rain events during harvest.

He said after last week's downpour, he expects the remaining 2500ha looked likely to be downgraded to feed. It is a similar story with his 5500ha Mace and Calingiri wheat crops.

"We had recently harvested some of this for seed and it was making top grade. Now the entire lot is most likely to be downgraded to feed," he said.

Another consequence of the rain is the need for extra summer weed spraying.

"The melons are already starting to emerge. Once we finish with the header we'll have to get on the boomsprayer straight away," Mr Hemley said.

At an estimated $15-$20 per hectare, plus man hours, Mr Hemley said as hail damage was covered by insurance, this was possibly the largest cost from the weather events.

Mr Gray said paddocks were still too wet to harvest and he had already started spraying for summer weeds.

Mr O'Meehan said he would blanket-spray his whole farm and estimated costs would be at least $20-$30/ha in chemicals alone.