Gormans Hill market gardener Michael Cook is content with his 1600 bales of silage

While Mr Cook’s bread and butter is cauliflowers – supplemented by some corn – he’s also making hay while the sun shines.

Sitting on the side of a hill on his property are 1600 bales of silage. 

He’s also got another 600 traditional round bales of Lucerne and rye grass sitting nearby.

It’s much the same scenario as was reported in the Western Advocate last November when local farmer David Suttor, from “Brucedale” on the Sofala Road, terminated a 250-acre wheat crop and made upwards of 1000 round bales of wheaten hay.

At the time he described it as “better than having money in the bank”.

Mr Cook said his big advantage is the fact his land is under irrigation thanks to the nearby Macquarie River.

“The silage is a mixture of oats and rye grass,” he said. 

“They cut it one day and bale it the next. Wrapping it in the plastic keeps all the goodness in. The experts say it’s the number one choice if you’re putting hay away. Any old timer will tell you stock can be fattened on it, while they only hold on if you give them hay.

“I am lucky because I am under irrigation, so I can make the hay any time of the year, even if we are in drought. We got the first cut in about the third week into October and have been going ever since – and there’s more to come by the end of summer. We hope to sell it as we head towards winter. 

“It’s not worth two bob sitting on the side of a hill. They reckon the silage will last about three years left in the open.”

Mr Cook said the past five weeks has seen a remarkable transformation in the countryside thanks to the rain.

“It’s been great. This time last year was a totally different picture and drought was looming,” he said.

In the meantime, Mr Cook says his corn crop of about 30 acres has been in the ground for 50 days now and is going great guns.

“The corn loves the rain and hot weather, so conditions have been ideal,” he said. 

“But the cauliflowers are my bread and butter and I’ve got about 100 acres sown to them. They end up going all around Australia and some even finds itself on cruise ships.”