It's always a gamble to have ground ploughed and cultivated at this time of year, but early sown oats will establish quickly and provide plenty of green protein for growing animals by mid-March.

We know that the rain gods can turn off the rain tap at any time and that fortune favours the brave.

Green oat crops in mid-March may well be a godsend in 2021.

A WARM welcome to Richard Butcher, Nutrien Wool, who is now contributing the weekly wool report to these pages.

Richard takes over from Mark Horsburgh, who wrote the report for many years and will continue to service Nutrien's wool clients across a wide area.

Readers of this column tell me that they rely on the weekly wool report for professional comments and up-to-date market trends.

Richard has established his reputation for being a good listener and a very respected participant in the wool valuing and marketing trade.

OTHER RECENT RURAL NOTEBOOK COLUMNS:

LONG-TIME farming couple June and Tony Dolbel of Wyoming, Triangle Flat are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary this week.

They were married at All Saints' Cathedral in Bathurst by Canon Barker on February 4, 1961 in front of 80 guests.

A lady I know was a three-year-old flower girl at the ceremony.

Tony still enjoys working with his farm tractors and June recalls her 28 years of driving the Triangle Flat school bus.

Congratulations to you both and best wishes for many more celebrations.

AUSTRALIA Day at Metro Perthville was once again a real get-together for the local community and a successful fundraiser for the Perthville Public School.

The effort that was made by the store owners and staff was a real credit to them and greatly appreciated by every attendee.

Please put a circle around January 26, 2022 so that you won't miss the barbecue at Metro Perthville with the hard-working families that operate the village store.

Lots of us see them as our good mates; thank you, Metro, and the hot food was extra good.

THE recent death of Robyn Ridings in Bathurst takes away one of the highly regarded personalities of the rural and real estate industry in the Central Tablelands.

Robyn has been the go-to lady in Bowyer and Livermore office in Bathurst for some years, and her ability and her friendship will be greatly missed.

WHEN we cross the Burrinjuck Dam below Yass and pass the little town of Wee Jasper, we find the property of Neil and Peter Carey, who breed ultra fine merinos on a large scale.

Their district was a part of the Tablelands Livestock Health and Pest Authority (LHPA) until recent years and the Brindabella/Wee Jasper wild dog control scheme was a template for other areas to follow.

The Careys recently bought 652 Hillcreston blood ewes from a property near Albany, WA and transported them 3500 kilometres to the family property "Kasmir".

Several years ago, Neil Carey bought several of the top-priced rams at a Pomanara sale at Sallys Flat.

FOLLOWING cataract surgery, we hear of lots of older farmers who relate to things that they can see now.

One tells me of seeing things that he hadn't seen for 30 years (so we won't ask questions).

However, the Crudine wind towers are causing much interest from Bathurst heights and a cloudless day and very good eyes can find them away to the north from the top of Mount Panorama and high points just east of Perthville.

Alternative energy generating projects are obvious in many situations and the poisoned chalice of climate change policies are changing much more rapidly than seemed possible in recent years.

FOR a brief look at federal politics as the "kids go back to school" in Canberra: Am I seeing things or does the federal treasurer now sit at the PM's right hand (in the seat where a Nationals deputy PM always sat)?

On TV, the deputy PM now sits off centre screen on the right wing.

Maybe the treasurer got there a bit early and found a good seat.

Had Barnaby still been deputy PM, I don't think anyone would pinch his chair.

A BRACE of winners for the Loader family and a good win to Neville and Marianne Donnelly's Lincoln Cullen were features of last week's Star Trek final night at Bathurst Paceway.

The thrill of a win for the smaller owners and trainers comes in the shadows of the district's professional operators, but we know that there would be no Bathurst trots without the Turnbulls, Hewitts and Frisbys.

The Harness Racing Club awarded Neville Donnelly the drive of the night and this photo is real pin-up material.

QUITE a lot of comment has been made on last week's Rural Notebook story of the five little boys who have remained good mates from 1946-2021.

My favourite comment was "at least none of the old beggars died young".

THE Eastern Market Indicator reached the levels in AUD that we had last seen in April 2020, which was prior to the start of the COVID-19 market fall.

In USC terms, the EMI is only 50usc short of recovering these losses from April 2020.

As China traditionally buys most of their wool in USD, this is very positive for our wool market.

We did, however, see a drop in the market in WA in the last selling session of the week.

This was predominantly in the broader micron wools with 20 micron and broader being most affected.

At the time of writing the report, industry sources suggest that we will see some adjustment this week in the eastern markets, however, demand is good and the fall may not be as large as what we had seen at the Fremantle close.

On an uplifting note, we saw a strengthening of crossbred wool prices of up to 50ac/kg, which is really wonderful to see.

Next week we have 47,000 bales on offer.

The sentiment remains positive!

GEORGE and Rose had been happily married for many years, but when they bought a water bed, they started to drift apart.

***

MILDRED'S husband stuck with her through all the bad patches and personal disasters. Mind you, he caused most of them.

***

THE old farmer's wife was rushed to hospital by ambulance.

Dad paced the waiting room for almost 50 hours and finally stopped a busy doctor.

He said: "Doctor, I know you're busy, but I must ask: do you have any idea how to operate a twin-tub Hoover washing machine?"