Serpentine, Charlton: October rain brings sweet relief for Victorian croppers

This year’s harvest could see a 20 per cent boost after some of Victoria’s key cropping regions received as much as two inches of critical rain.

Sweet relief came tumbling down from the heavens last week with a very timely October rain, following a drier than average winter and warm start to spring.

Each part of Victoria was hit differently by the rain, from a welcome finishing drop across the northern Wimmera and southern Mallee’s cropping regions to far more significant falls in the state’s North East and Gippsland regions which caused flash flooding.

For Tandarra farmer James Taylor and his family, the spring showers dropped about 50mm which could hardly have come at a better time.

“Overall it was well-timed because things were starting to dry out,” he said.

“The yield from the dryland crops will be upheld thanks to that last bit of rain.

“The rain will really help fill them out and take them to finish, things were starting to look a bit dicey.

“We also planted some irrigation lucerne recently so the rain will help get some germination on that as well.”

Jacinta Taylor and son James on their Tandarra property with his quarter horse stallion named Syd, her quarter horse Sassy, their Kelpie named Flo and Beagle named Clive. Picture: Zoe Phillips

VFF grains president Craig Henderson estimated last week’s rain could help lift yields in some parts of Victoria by up to 20 per cent.

“The southern Wimmera missed out a bit, but they still have that subsoil moisture, but from the northern Wimmera right through to the Mallee there was good finishing rain with varying amounts of 10-30mm,” Mr Henderson said.

“Yields aren’t going to go backwards now and in some of the other cropping regions there might be time for another rain in their season.”

Rainfall in the seven days to October 10.

Mr Henderson said lentil and wheat crops would be best affected by the rain, with it expected to help the head of the wheat crop fill to average levels in most places.

However, he said many barley crops were established and canola had nearly finished across most of Victoria’s western cropping regions.

While the two inches of rain in central Victoria was well-received, the east of the state was struck by flash flooding as well in excess of 100mm fell in some parts across two days.

Nicole and Brendan Saunders, winners of The Weekly Times Coles 2022 Farmer of the Year, estimated about three-quarters of their 700-cow Tinamba dairy farm was underwater as the nearby Macalister River flooded on Thursday.

Flooding at the Saunders family’s Tinamba dairy farm on Thursday.

“We have had about 130mm. We chose to stay to look after the animals. We got food and prepared yesterday and moved the animals to the higher areas,” Mrs Saunders said.

“It has definitely been a little bit hectic and not ideal, but more rain is better than no rain.

“We were so excited for rain, but probably not 150mm.

“It is a huge relief because it’ll mean we can keep cattle on our non-irrigated feeding blocks.”

The massive falls in Gippsland were also several weeks late of delivering the ultimate benefits, Bairnsdale mixed cropping and beef farmer Trevor Caithness said.

“In reality the rain is probably three to four weeks too late. The canola has finished flowering, prematurely, and cereal has lost lots of yield potential,” he said.

“Our system relies a lot on stored fodder and we had been using it up the last three months. “So this will allow us to grow some summer crops and restore a bit of that fodder and allow us our full stocking rates.”

Bairnsdale vegetable grower and AusVeg chair Bill Bulmer. Picture: Aaron Francis

Also at Bairnsdale, vegetable grower and AusVeg chair Bill Bulmer said flood waters damaged crops, “inundated” lower parts of the valley, delaying some areas by two to three weeks which were preparing for production.

“I woke up Tuesday to see a wall of flames coming along the ridge line. A couple of days later, we were all paddling,” he said.

“It was a dry winter across most growing regions, retailers are driving prices back down … it’s been a tough run.

“The despair I’m seeing is the worst I’ve seen it … it’s an accumulation of all these pressures.”