CROPS in the Moolort area of Central Victoria have been judged as just about average as farmers neared an early finish to the 2014-15 harvest.
Yields of crops on the Moolort plains, east of Carisbrook and about 65 kilometres south of Bendigo, were deemed as good given the lack of general rain from August onwards.
Patchy good falls of rains in mid-November were a saviour for crops affected and lifted yields to around 3.7 tonnes per hectare for wheat.
Matthew Hurse, Moolort, who farms with his parents Peter and Sharon and brother Adam was on the last of their cropping program last week – an early finish for the area.
He said the canola had yielded “okay” at just under two tonnes/hectare while the barley had gone about 2.8 tonnes/ha.
Closing out their harvest on Friday, Mr Hurse said the final paddock of wheat was going about 2.5t/ha.
Just next door the Butler family, trading as F.R. Butler and Sons, Newstead, still had about 800ha of wheat left to go.
The wheat in the paddock being harvested last week was yielding about 3.7t/ha.
Nearer Carisbrook header operator Tim Mason was harvesting a paddock of wheat for the local Carisbrook Football Netball Club.
The crop is part of the club’s fundraising activities and the cropping operations are provided by local farmers Ian Hurse and family, Moolort.