Western Victorian suffers more than three months of below average dry

THE season in southeast Australia has been decimated after one of its best starts ever.

DROUGHT. Weather. Tom & Jenny Small at Tottington, their sheep property near St Arnaud. Dry. WTSocial. Pictured: An animal skull in the base of a dam. Dry dam. No water. PICTURE: ZOE PHILLIPS

THE season in southeast Australia has been decimated after one of its best starts ever.

Figures compiled by The Weekly Times show that despite excellent autumn rain across Victoria and southern NSW, conditions have dramatically deteriorated with well below average falls during late winter and spring.

Some centres, including Horsham, Mildura and Wycheproof, have recorded six consecutive months of well below average rainfall, forcing farmers to abandon crops and handfeed hungry livestock.

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It’s a devastating turn from April, when Mildura more than tripled its monthly average, Wycheproof doubled it and Horsham received more than 1½ times its average total.

Swan Hill agronomist Rob Sonogan said despite “the best autumn break ever” in northwest Victoria, there were now parts of the region that could be likened to the “Never Never”.

Mr Sonogan said most of the Mallee received 50-90mm in April with “a couple of follow-up falls in May” before “it just stopped”.

“Even up until late July, we only needed one good rain to get us through,” he said. “But it never came.”

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Horsham farmer Geoff Rethus said the dry finish to the season was expected to effect crop yield and quality when his harvest starts this week. “It really hasn’t rained since the end of July … we’ve had 3.5mm since then,” Mr Rethus said.

“It’s surprising really (how the crops are hanging on). Thirty years ago we wouldn’t have had any crops to harvest with a season like this, but it shows how farming technology has changed.”

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Even parts of the North East, which received well-above average falls during autumn, are starting to feel the pinch. Wangaratta received just 33 per cent of its average rain during October and just 9 per cent in August while Albury recorded four straight months of below average falls.

Porepunkah cattle farmer Chris Oswin said while most of his paddocks were still green, it is “drying off”.

“We had an unbelievable autumn and the stock are in as good a nick as they’ve ever been.”