On the southern edge of the Mullewa Shire, Brett and Nicole Broad have started seeding on their 8800-hectare mixed farming property.
At this stage they have put in sheep feed crops of wheat, serradella and clover and will start on their grain crops of wheat, barley and lupins in the next few weeks.
The Broads have a mixed cropping and sheep enterprise with 2500 ewes, and their main soil type is deep yellow sand.
They have been growing serradella for several years and have seen the benefits in both the livestock and cropping enterprises in terms of provision of sheep feed and crop nitrogen and weed and disease control.
Mr Broad said this year they would grow 3000ha of Sceptre and Chief wheat, 1500ha of Jurien lupins and 500ha of the new CoAXium Titan barley.
"We are trying the new barley because of its tolerance to Aggressor herbicide that will help us with in-crop brome grass control," Mr Broad said.
The Broads have a Morris Quantum 18 metre seeder with spacings at 30 centimetres and use a K-Till fertiliser applied at a rate of 80 kilograms per hectare across the whole program.
To date, Mr Broad said they had received 30-40 millimetres of rain on the property - mostly at the end of February.
"So, we have soil moisture but it is really deep down," Mr Broad said.
He said it was a fairly typical start to seeding this year.
"It is rare for us to be sowing into moisture at this time of the year," he said.
"But given the dry finish we had in 2023 and very dry summer, it is very dry in the soil now.
"The guys around here who grow canola are worried, but I don't like canola.
"I prefer to deal with livestock than canola."
Mr Broad said people in the district appeared to be generally optimistic about the coming winter grains season.
He said he had finished deep ripping about 2000ha this year prior to seeding.
"We have been doing it for a long time," Mr Broad said.
"The benefits on sandplain soils are well known."
