Albury, Yarram, Warracknabeal: Where the rain has fallen so far this year

While some towns in southern Australia have received plenty of rain this year, others have not. But there is one thing everyone has in common this spring.

Farmers from Victoria’s west to the state’s Upper Murray region in the northeast are hoping for average spring rainfall to finish off what is a delicately poised season.

David Brewer of Brewer Ag at Tallangatta said this year had been one of the wettest winter’s he has seen.

“Our paddocks have been wetter than last year, which has made things pretty difficult,” he said.

“After the flooding last year we had the 10-inch rain event in January which saturated everything and things haven’t dried out since then.”

Mr Brewer said the wet winter had made it “impossible” to access his hay and silage crops, but he was hoping with average spring rainfall he can complete a decent harvest.

“It is a tough time with cattle prices where they are and looking down the barrel of high cattle feed prices, not helped by urea shortages and some issues producing hay and silage.”

So far this year, nearby Rutherglen has received 546mm of rain, 94 per cent of its yearly average, while across the border Albury has received 582mm this year, 96 per cent of its annual average.

The haves and the have nots: Where the rain has fallen so far this year.

However, it is a different story in Gippsland where many regions have received just a third of their calendar-year average rainfall.

In southeast Gippsland, 234mm of rain has fallen at Yarram, while in the east Bairnsdale has received 240mm, 32 per cent and 38 per cent respectively of their annual average rainfall.

In the northern Wimmera, Nhill-Jeparit district cropping farmer Matt Rohde said frost, hail and heat shock were his biggest harvest concerns after a wet June set the district up for a strong season.

So far this year nearby Warracknabeal has received 196mm, 50 per cent of its yearly average, with the majority of this rain falling in June.

“If we can get another 15-20mm in late September and we avoid those things that trip us up, I’d say we are looking at an average season at worst,” Mr Rohde said.

“Last year we had an extremely wet August to October and had a full moisture profile in our paddocks. After a wet June where we had 70-100mm, we had that full moisture profile back and that gave us a lot of confidence.”