DALBY is a 20 minute drive from Bowenville, where Isaac Halling was first introduced to the world of broadacre farming.
His uncle Stephen O’Keeffe works the family’s Dalby property and has done so for the most part, single-handedly.
“We have about 1,060 acres ... so 430 hectares here,” said Mr O’Keeffe.                                                                                                                                                                                  “A lot of cropping farms around here are a lot bigger but we do alright.
“We grow barley, wheat and sorghum mainly and occasionally mung beans or chickpeas.”
It was 1875 when the first generation of O’Keeffes settled on Dalby land.
“I’m on my own now and keep things going, my brother, brother-in-law and nephews help out a lot too, though.”
He said he liked that his nephews were interested in being involved in farming, even if it was from an engineering or scientific point of view.
“I think when some of the young folk go and do what he’s doing for a degree, they have a certain lifestyle in mind with no real understanding of the work or the basics when it comes to being on the ground,” he said.
“I hope because [Isaac] has had a go at the practical side, that will help him along the line there.
“It is a lot easier these days with technology but at least he has a good understanding of the process from start to finish.”
He said the harvest was on average, about 1,000 tonnes a year.
“I spend a lot of time on my own so I put the crop into the silos, sell it and it then gets moved off farm,” he said.
“I have eight silos on the property, two of them hold 200 tonnes, two 100 tonnes and four 65 tonnes ... as time’s gone on I’ve put bigger ones up.
“I sell to a few different companies, Broadbents and Norco ... I used to sell a lot to Graincorp but you have to take it down to the depot and while it’s not that far away it can be hard when you’re trying to harvest and get it down there at the same time.”
He said the past couple of years the harvest had been “good”.
“We’ve had plenty of grain and not much drought to worry about,” he said.
“There are a lot of what we call company farms around [Dalby], real big places ... two of my neighbours have around 7,000 or 8,000 acres.
“They’ve got auto steer tractors and even air seeders that plant [while] running off the GPS.
“You can even get it set up to test the fields and if certain spots need more fertiliser you can put it on a variable rate.”
High tech aside, working the land still means just that ... hard yakka.
“People don’t realise there is a lot more to farming than planting and harvesting a crop, and it’s even more so these days,” he said.
“I have agronomists coming out to the farm all the time, telling me things and giving me advice.
“I usually take the advice, but I question them and ask because it helps to grow better crops.”