![Michael and Leonie Kennedy with daughter-in-law, Annabelle; son Max, 1, and her husband, Dominic, who live at “Half Moon”, nearby, and siblings Danielle, Jack and Jemma. Michael and Leonie Kennedy with daughter-in-law, Annabelle; son Max, 1, and her husband, Dominic, who live at “Half Moon”, nearby, and siblings Danielle, Jack and Jemma.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-agfeed/2072149.jpg/r0_0_1024_683_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
WITH an average 450-millimetre annual rainfall, precipitation across eight weeks from February tallying 242mm was a “Godsend” for Michael and Leonie Kennedy and family, “Killarney”, 30 kilometres north of Nyngan.
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That was close to the total rain in all of 2013 but the result was a flush of late summer growth and the beginnings of the best autumn start in years.
Of that growth 190 hectares of self-sown barley with a mix of summer grasses and burr medic on “Killarney”, was cut as silage.
“It’s the nature of being out here – we have to be prepared for dry times,” Mrs Kennedy said.
“We always have feed on hand – silage is the cheapest option after good rain and pasture growth.”
The family runs 8000 White Dorper and Dorper breeding ewes across three properties, so they always try to have feed reserves for those “dry spots”.
The pasture was fine chopped suitable as sheep feed by Holbrook district contractor, Rob Dark, whose tractor is behind the family on top of the silage pit being rolled (or pressed) prior to covering.