By Linda Clarke  December 31 2009

Timing is everything for agricultural contractors like Matt Lovett, who keeps a close eye on the weather forecast when his big machines are ready to roll.

At Hinds yesterday morning, he was watching black clouds accumulate to the south while windrowing a paddock of barley for dairy farmer Ben Stock.

 The barley was being turned into silage for dairy cows to eat, but the windrower wasn’t working too far in advance of the forage harvester with rain on the horizon.

 Working with the weather is part of the job. Drivers can put in long hours in the summer months operating big harvesters and trucks.

 When a crop is ready, it’s all action.

 Mr Lovett said the busy season had already begun, with no let-up until the end of February.

 Staff can be rostered to provide a 24-hour service making sure specialist crops and others intended for silage are safely off the paddock and put into storage.

 The 45 hectares of barley cut at Hinds yesterday should have taken the rest of the day to shred and cart to the farmer’s pit, but rain held up the operation.

 Mid Canterbury Federated Farmers arable section chairman David Clark said farmers were just hoping for a run of hot and dry weather so crops could be harvested.

 Other than the areas affected by hail recently, most crops were looking good; international prices for grain were also lifting.

 “Inland there has been good moisture and the crops are looking good. In the coastal areas though there has not been as much rain and the crops are under moisture pressure, they might not yield as well.”

 While a hot spell is vital to harvest crops, some farmers will have storage issues with last season’s grain still in silos.

Pictured:  A forage harvester shoots shredded barley into a waiting truck on a Hinds dairy farm. - Photo Carmen Rooney 301209-CR-087