It's well known that farmers like looking over the fence to see what their neighbours are planting.
But this season, the whole world will be looking over one particular fence as a Queensland farming family attempts to set a Guinness World Record for sowing the largest paddock of wheat in 24 hours.
The Coggan family, well-known fifth-generation farmers at Meandarra, south-west Queensland, are waiting for rain to launch their world record attempt.
Dust is currently blowing across their 20,000 hectares, but family patriarch, 60-year-old John Coggan, is confident the rain will come some time between now and the end of July.
"It's an '8' year and for the last four decades an '8' year has always been a wet one," he said.
The Coggans are launching their world record attempt to raise money for the Prince Charles Hospital Foundation to fund further medical research.
It was at the Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane that John received a life saving heart transplant three years ago.
"The doctors there are magicians. I had only a 10pc chance of surviving, and they pulled me through."
John had struggled with heart complaints for several years, and by the time he was 57 he'd become a very ill man.
He remembers the day in November 2004 when his wife Lyn drove him off the property to seek further medical treatment in Brisbane.
"It was the worst day of my life as we drove around the property. I could see there was so much to be done, but I was too weak to do anything."
Due to a hole in the wall of his heart John was struggling for every breath and was constantly on oxygen.
"The cruellest thing I did that day was to salute my son Phillip as we drove away. I honestly thought that was the last time I would see him."
While in Brisbane, John collapsed and was put into an induced coma for seven weeks at Prince Charles Hospital.
An experimental internal pump was trialled, but clogged after three days.
John said through further research, those pumps were now keeping people alive.
VentrAssist (VAD) devices were then inserted into both atriums of the heart.
Throughout the trauma Lyn was at John's bedside. She breaks down in tears as she relives the awful memories.
"Week after week, the medical staff looked after him not knowing if he'd still be alive at the end of their shift," she said.
Back on the property, their son Phillip and his wife Cindy were in charge. Cindy said it was a tough time.
"Farming families work so closely together, and suddenly we'd lost two key members in our team," she said.
Phillip was used to speaking with his father every day and making joint decisions.
They would bounce ideas off each other, sharing their passion for farming.
Now Phillip and Cindy were on their own and torn between running the enterprise and rushing to John's bedside in Brisbane.
Phillip laughs that they must have done alright, because in 2005 they were named Queensland's Graingrowers of the Year. John had just had his heart transplant and proudly attended the awards ceremony.
* People can donate to the Coggan family's fundraising Guinness World Record attempt at any branch of Rabobank; or by sending cheques made out to the Prince Charles Hospital Foundation to Rabobank, PO Box 1671, Toowoomba 4350; or by depositing money in the Prince Charles Hospital Foundation bank account 633 000 - 121 857 106 and stipulating it is for the World Record.
Please mark any donations as World Record so a receipt can be issued.
*Extract from a special report in Queensland Country Life, May 22 issue.
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