Harvest is Dunne and dusted for Beacon farming family

Beacon farmer Andrew Dunne has had the help of all four of his sons this harvest for the first time in years, with the family’s 4800ha cropping program now complete. Harvest for the Dunnes started on October 14, with this year’s plantings including 750ha of barley, 500ha of oats and 3450ha of wheat. Mr Dunne said they had a good winter but a dry September and, as a result, screenings were high. “We had 300mm during the growing season which is not too bad,” he said. A little more rain in September would have been good, Mr Dunne said, but none was needed now during the end of harvest. Conditions were dry during the beginning of the year and while this meant fewer summer weeds, any rain at any time was always a blessing for the soil moisture profile, Mr Dunne said. This year the stars aligned so all four of the Dunne boys were available and home in Beacon — the Wheatbelt’s most north-easterly town — to help with harvest. The Dunnes’ eldest son Ben, 25, a qualified accountant, was home for a break and keen to get out and be a part of the harvest team to help bring in this year’s crop. Matt, 23, has been back on the farm since 2019 and, working alongside his dad, was in charge of co-ordinating this year’s team. Nathan, 19, who is part way through a heavy diesel apprentice with WesTrac — and who was named best first-year apprentice of 2024 — was also taking time off the tools at home to spend time with family and to help with harvest. Youngest son Lachlan, 17, has just finished Year 12 at Guildford Grammar School and was also available to help for a few weeks. Mr Dunne said it had been great having all the boys together, and everything had gone well. Gemma Dunne, with the help of Matt’s partner Emma Kerr, was kept busy keeping lunch boxes supplied for the team. Mrs Dunne said she was glad for Emma’s help, and the pair prepared cakes and slices, mini quiches, watermelon and lamb. “Everyone has been working really well together under Andrew and Matt’s leadership,” Mrs Dunne said. “It has been really lovely having everyone here together.” The Dunne family also run their Merino stud Parakeelya with 1500 breeding ewes. Mr Dunne said Matt was running the stud now and the Federal Government’s decision to phase out live exports had made for a tough few years. He said their plans were to keep improving and, given the fairly good season, they would probably be looking at buying more machinery after harvest.