With one eye on his early pick fortunes and the other on the table-topping success of a local rugby team he helps coach, St Ruth producer Glenn Ogden in southern Queensland says he's "full-on" on both counts.
Just recently he was more than half-way through the cotton picking programme at his Plainview Park property, assisted by the efforts of farm manager Troy Mann.
Following pre-plant rains, the 450ha (1100 acre) crop has "never looked back", thereby buoying the fortunes of the Ogden family who concede next year's conditions may not be so favourable.
With more than two week's picking under their belts, much is being made of their early planting opportunity.
"Thankfully, we scored a flood which was fantastic because we didn’t have to pre-water," Mr Ogden said.
Planted into zero-till ground, it filled the property's soil moisture profile, also allowing crops of irrigated corn and soybeans to reap the benefits.
As far as yields are concerned, he says two in-crop watering are translating to between 3 to 3.5 bales/acre, while portions that received three watering are turning in up to 4.5 bales/acre.
Interestingly, while the bulk of the Ogden's crop is portioned over to Sicot 70BRF, they also have grown some 100ha (250 acres) of conventional cotton.
Yields this season have been described as "comparable", with Mr Ogden adding "you just can't write conventional off", adding it was still a "useful option" to have down the track.
Needing to spray out a low level aphid infestation towards the end of the season, the point is made this was nothing out of the ordinary in what has been "a fantastic year" for growing cotton in the district.
Another reason why the Ogdens warmed up their picker's engine early in the piece can be sheeted home to the performance of their defoliant.
"We were picking within two weeks of our first defoliation when usually it takes about three weeks," he said.
"That's why we are early again."
To date Plainview Park's four-row 9960 John Deere picker, described as an "honest machine for a family farm operation", can cover about 50 aces/day of single skip crop.
Describing cotton prices as "very ordinary" at the moment, Mr Ogden says he is always on the look out for price opportunities.
"But those opportunities are short and brief, so you just have to watch the market very closely," he said.
"While I've never picked the top of a market, immediately it hits a price that I know we can operate on, then I grab some of it.
"What I can say is that we've got enough sold that we will be cotton growers again.
"It's a lot better than looking at $330, or whatever it is at the moment, because you just can't operate at those levels."
As well, there’s continuing concern about fertiliser pricing – an issue that has caused growers no end of headaches as they strive to obtain realistic returns after factoring-in the latest input costs.
Commenting that as far as this year's crop is concerned "it's all good", Mr Ogden's thoughts immediately turned to the rugby team he's involved with, namely the Dalby Wheatmen.
With one son in the table-topping Under 17 side, two other sons in the Under 15 and Under 13 line-ups respectively, he says the largely state-school make-up of the three sides is up against Toowoomba teams where the majority of players come from private schools.
"For a state-school side to be leading is fairly unique," he said.
"All credit to them because it shows the quality of young people today is very good."
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