Farmers Tony White, from Miling, and Peter Daw, from Ravensthorpe, participated in the Western Australia Drought Pilot program over a decade ago.

This initiative, spearheaded by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF), aimed to help farmers better prepare for and manage dry seasons.

In this episode, Tony and Peter share the strategies they have incorporated into their farm businesses since completing the program. They discuss how the program’s support, which included a $40,000 grant for capital improvements and an additional $20,000 for other expenditures, has made a lasting impact on their operations and preparedness against drought.

This episode is brought to you by the South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub and is hosted by Shannon Beattie.

In this episode, we catch up with Dan Parnell, Regional Extension Officer at Western Dairy, and Borden farmer Paul O’Meehan to delve into the world of silage.

Silage isn't widely used in the wheatbelt, but Paul has been growing and utilising it near Borden for many years, and opened one pit after 5 years.

Dan, a consultant, delivers TopFodder workshops, which focus on producing high-quality silage and hay. Recently, he has been doing this work through a project funded by the Future Drought Fund titled "Better Making and Use of Hay and Silage - Mitigating drought and season variability effects for WA's livestock industry".

Through this project, the TopFodder program is used to upskill dairy, beef and sheep producers in WA on successfully making, storing and feeding silage. The project enables these producers to improve the quality of traditionally produced hay, which will further improve the quality feed for their stock in times of drought.

This episode is brought to you by the South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub and is hosted by Shannon Beattie.

• TopFodder Workshops – contact Western Beef - Western Beef website: westernbeef.org.au Jeisane Accioly: 0403 327 216 or jeisane.alis@gmail.com Dan Parnell: dan.parnell@westerndairy.com.au
• Successful Silage (TopFodder) Manual - Dairy Australia
• Hub news - Drought Hub

In this episode, we talk with Brad Plunkett and Christophe D’Abbadie about profitable and drought-resilient grazing systems for the Southern Rangelands.

Brad and Christophe, both economists at the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD), have conducted extensive research on profitable and sustainable rangeland management systems in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

Their work is particularly notable for its focus on strategies that allow pastoralists to manage consecutive drought years effectively.

This episode is brought to you by the South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub and is hosted by Shannon Beattie.

• Modelling shows optimal beef system for Southern Rangelands - WA Government
• Southern Rangelands Revitalisation Program - DPIRD
• C. d'Abbadie, R. Kingwell, P. Vercoe, B. Plunkett, A. Peggs, Heavy steers and heifers run at low stocking rates enhance drought resilience in a pastoral region of Australia, Agricultural Systems, Volume 218, 2024
• Cunyu Station Visit: An example of profitable, sustainable pastoralism (PDF) - Rangelands WA
• Rangeland heavy steers and heifers run at low stocking rates provide resilience to drought (YouTube) - Christophe D’Abbadie
• Hub news - Drought Hub

On this episode, we are joined by Meredith Guthrie from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) and Michaela Alexander from the Bureau of Meteorology.

Together, they discuss various weather tools that can help us gain deeper insights into our forecasts.

Meredith and Michaela highlight several tools that farmers can use to better understand weather forecasts, explaining their strengths and practical applications.

This episode is brought to you by the South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub and is hosted by Shannon Beattie.

• Weather predictions, risk and decision making. Perspectives on making better decisions on risk management from weather and seasonal forecasts - GRDC
• GIWA Crop Report - April 2024 - Grain Industry Association of Western Australia
• The Australian water outlook - Bureau of Meteorology
• SheepLinks - FutureSheep - DPIRD
• Weather station network - DPIRD
• Rainfall to date tools - DPIRD
• Extreme weather events tool - DPIRD
• Soil water tool - DPIRD
• The BOM Weather app
• MetEye - Bureau of Meteorology
• Climate outlooks—weeks, months and seasons - Bureau of Meteorology
• About the Bureau's climate model: ACCESS–S
• DR.SAT - Drought Resilience Self-Assessment Tool
• My Climate View
• Hub news - Drought Hub

In this episode, we explore different livestock feed options for dry seasons.

Joining us are Hayley Norman, a pasture researcher from CSIRO, and Emily Stretch, a farmer from Kojonup. They talk about the impact of the current dry season on livestock operations on WA farms and share alternative feed options farmers can consider.

A key topic is the use of saltbush as a feed alternative in dry years. Hayley and Emily explain how farmers can make use of less productive land for growing shrubs and other feed options. They also discuss the health considerations for livestock when switching to these alternatives.

This episode is brought to you by the South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub and is hosted by Shannon Beattie.

• Case Study: Weaning Management - DPIRD
• Information about perennials, case studies, establishment, feeding and shrub spacing calculator - Saltland Genie
• Saltbush systems video featuring WA farmer, Rod Stokes - CSIRO
• Making Silage - Dairy Australia
• Saltbushes for dryland salinity management in Western Australia - DPIRD
• Saltbush: A grazing option? - FutureBeef
• Grain and Graze 2 program — FarmLink
• The spread of kikuyu - Meat & Livestock Australia
• PDS Spotlight on Productive saltland pastures for southern WA - Meat & Livestock Australia
• Drought resilient landscapes with profitable native shrub and legume systems across southern Australia — Fitzgerald Biosphere Group
• Hub news - Drought Hub

In this episode of the South-West WA Drought Hub's Dry Season Resources podcast, Renae Piggott, a consultant with AgAsset, and Matt Hyde, a young Dalwallinu farmer, talk about the impact of a dry season on WA farms' cash flow.

Farmers may need to pull different levers to change or modify farm operations to minimise the impacts of a dry season on their business.

Renae and Matt give an introduction to the four key ratios farmers should know to help them make informed financial decisions. They discuss the importance for business owners to have a clear understanding of where they sit financially, particularly around cash flow.

They also highlight the importance of having a plan with trigger points throughout the season. This plan should be built on evidence-based information and scenarios farm businesses have experienced in the last five years or more.

Some useful tools and rules of thumb are also discussed.

The Dry Season Resources podcast is produced by the South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub and hosted by Shannon Beattie.

• Cultivating Profit workshop with Renae Piggott (PDF)
• Season 2024: information for WA farmers - DPIRD
• Farm decision making - GRDC
• Processes help to guide good farm decision-making - GRDC
• Farm decision making - how does your risk profile affect your business decision making? - GRDC
• Drought budgeting and banking - Drought Info
• Australian Grain Leaders Program 2024 participants - Grain Growers
• Rainfall to date tool for Western Australia - DPIRD
• Hub news - Drought Hub

In this episode, we turn our attention to getting good crop establishment with early sowing.

Our guests are Glen Riethmuller, Research Scientist at the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD), and Stuart Faulkner, a mixed farmer from Beacon, WA.

Good crop establishment and rapid, early growth can improve water efficiency, increase yields and help the crop to compete against weeds. However, early sowing comes with its risks. It can increase the risk of frost during critical growth stages and haying-off in a dry finish.

Glen and Stuart give their tips for getting good crop establishment when sowing early.

The Dry Season Resources podcast is produced by the South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub and hosted by Shannon Beattie.

• Livestock management in 2023-2024 (PDF) - DPIRD
• Climate outlooks - Bureau of Meteorology
• Maximising sowing opportunities under dry soil conditions in the high-rainfall zone - GRDC
• $8.2M national project to boost canola establishment - CSIRO
• 2024 WA Crop Sowing Guide - DPIRD
• Ten tips for early sown wheat (PDF) - GRDC
• Crop establishment and precision planting (PDF) - GRDC
• Hub news - Drought Hub

In this episode of the South-West WA Drought Hub's Dry Season Resources podcast, host Shannon Beattie discusses the role of digital technologies in agricultural businesses with Smart Farms coordinator for Stirlings to Coast Farmers, Phil Honey, Principal Research Scientist at CSIRO, Roger Lawes, and Latham farmer, Dylan Hirsch.

A range of technologies have been developed in the agricultural industry that provide growers with new insights into their farm businesses and have potential to improve efficiencies and productivity.

However, these technologies often have limitations and farmers often lack the time, tools and skills to process data from multiple different sources to effectively utilise them.

Phil, Roger and Dylan took part in a SW WA Hub project funded through a Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Innovation grant aimed at understanding growers’ attitude to digital technology. They assisted growers to better understand the opportunities presented by the latest digital technologies and how they can address farming system challenges and improve in-season decision making when faced with a variable climate.

• Emerging technologies in agriculture (PDF) - AgriFutures
• Agtech Decoded: growers critically analysing the role of new technology in on-farm decision making – what are the possibilities? - SW WA Hub
• Technology supporting SA agriculture - PIRSA
• Hub news - Drought Hub