Farm plants cotton for first time in 114 years
FIFTH-GENERATION farmer Dennis Rush has turned to cotton for the first time in the history of his family’s 114 years as farmers.
The change has helped them gain returns that are helping them through the drought.
He hopes to plant cotton again in November but it all depends on the arrival of October rain.
In April last year, Mr Rush planted 208 hectares of his 7900-hectare property, Hopewood, near Texas.
Over the years the flood-prone farm has been planted with a variety of cattle feed including oats, lucerne, rye and chickpeas.
Mr Rush took over the farm at the age of 19 after his father, Jack, died in 2009. He now runs a herd of black angus cattle.
“We decided for the first time last year to grow cotton. The drought really struck us at the time. We had a heck of a lot of young cattle with nowhere to go with them,” he said.
“We had to look at different options. I had friends who said it was time to go to cotton.”
Mr Rush said with the possibility of $650 a bale there was no other option.
“The biggest advantage is the money we can make out of it,” he said.
One advantage of the dry conditions was that it was fairly pest-free.
Another advantage of the crop is the feed for cattle. Dennis said they loved the cotton-seed and after cotton harvesting, the cattle went across the crop and ate the stubble.
Over the past 10 years there has been a shift for farmers around Texas, which was a predominantly lucerne-growing area, to move into cotton because of its durability and the money to be made, Mr Rush said.