East Gippsland inundated as rain continues to fall across Victoria

THE old saying “there’s money in mud” is being tested in East Gippsland.

Bogged Farmer

THE old saying “there’s money in mud” is being tested in East Gippsland where farmers are experiencing some of the wettest conditions in recent memory.

“It’s as wet as I can remember,” cattle and dairy farmer Chris Nixon said.

His farm at Bete Bolong, outside Orbost, has recorded 527mm of rain so far this year, and his motorbikes and utes are constantly bogged.

“It’s incredibly wet and boggy,” Mr Nixon said.

“It’s our fourth good winter in a row — after 15 years of drought — and the hill country is as wet as ever.”

On the Snowy River flats, between Marlo and Orbost, dairy farmer Alistair Steel has given up recording rain figures.

He has experienced four years of winter flooding, mostly from the Snowy River.

But this year his farm has been hit with two floods from the Brodribb River.

“We’re getting used to it,” Mr Steel said. He said a switch to autumn calving and construction of a feedpad and new tracks in the past year had helped manage the conditions.

“Even the cattle are used to it now,” he said, adding that his heifers recently had to swim “in a couple of spots” to get away from flood water.

Cattle producer Chris Daniel is also doing his best to cope with the rain on his property about 20km east of Mr Steel’s farm.

“These plains don’t have a gradient, so it doesn’t drain well,” Mr Daniel said.

“We’ve got quite a bit of water lying around.

“Our country gets pugged really easily and we’re trying to make every blade (of grass) count,” he said.

Mr Daniel has been on the farm since 2007 and said the past three winters had been particularly wet.

He said he had given up worrying about the weather.

“They call it El Nino, but in Gippsland it should be called ‘El Flood-o’.”