Weather gods send a wedding gift

Late rains in October and November couldn't have come at a better time for Jerramungup farmer Simon Cullam.

It meant a good germination for his first Shirohie millet crop and filled empty dams with water for stock this summer.

But most importantly, it was a blessing for his nuptials on November 4 to wife, Helen.

Rain on the wedding day is said to foretell the coming of children and promote growth in the farmer's fields.

But it also meant friends and family could celebrate the occasion without having to rush home for harvest.

Well known for his sheep stud, Cullam Samms, Simon said 34mm was recorded on October 23, and two days later the millet was sown.

The day before the wedding 30mm of rain fell from the sky followed by 25mm on the day. Last week another 10mm was recorded.

Simon, who farms with his dad Rod had the seed in the shed waiting for the right time.

With 35ha of millet in the ground, the aim is to improve water-use efficiency and to provide green feed in summer to help finish off lambs.

"Where there is good depth of soil, the millet is rocking away but on the heavy clay it hasn't done as well," Simon said.

"The rain we had was fantastic because we were in trouble for stock water and it was going to be a long summer. I had dams going from being empty to overflowing.

"All the catchments are full and you never get sick of looking at full dams."

With 2500 lambs still to market, Simon said they will be 'thumpers' after a green pick of millet and being finished on stubbles.

This year, the Cullams will harvest barley and wheat and finished the canola, which averaged 1.1t/ha on Monday.

They had to hire a cleaner from the neighbours saying there were plenty of insects and bugs in the rows.

With half of the program sold, Simon said some of the barley should go malt and if they could achieve APW2, they would be 'rapt'.