Crop growers work to mitigate dry conditions ahead of rain

Southeast Australian crop growers are hoping for “good rain”, with some looking to spread urea ahead of rain forecasts.

Southeast Australian farmers are tackling a drier-than-average cropping season, with mixed rain totals and crop emergence.

But for Skipton farmer David Jackson, this year’s summer rain has led to a “phenomenal” conception rate for his ewe flock.

He recorded 57 millimetres of rain in January.

“Of our older ewes, about 80 per cent are due to have twins,” he said.

“But the downside is we won’t have the feed in the paddocks.”

His crops at both his Skipton and Ararat properties have all emerged, but are slow growing.

He planted wheat, canola and beans in this year’s rotation.

“Our year to date is 139 millimetres, [my wife’s] father used to say we averaged roughly 50mm a month, by the end of June we should be up to 250mm,” he said.

“We’re probably at half our year-to-date rainfall.”

Mr Jackson said they had received 30mm of rain since the start of their sowing.

He said they planned to spread urea tomorrow and hoped for a “good rain” this weekend, with an expected five to 10mm.

They had frosts over the past week, which he expected would slow crop growth.

“We’re loath to spread urea unless we’re confident of a good bit of rain to wash it in,” he said.

At Netherby, south of the Big Desert, mixed farmer Shannon Launer maintained the same rotation as the previous year with canola, lentils, vetch for hay, barley and wheat.

“We’ve been very lucky in Netherby, you don’t have to go far and it’s a lot different,” he said.

“We’ve had a lot of summer rain this year, from November last year to about the start of April we had about 300mm of rain.”

He said their early-sown canola was growing well, despite a “very patchy” germination in other crops.

His paddocks have received 28mm of rain on June 14 and 15, which helped reach a 40mm total for the month to date.

Mr Launer said despite his cautious-but-positive sentiments for the season, he expected to produce less sheep feed than normal.

“We’re stepping away from the sheep job to try and make more money out of crops and hay,” he said.

Bureau of Meteorology senior climatologist Simon Grainger said parts of south-western Western Australia, southern South Australia, western Victoria and northern Tasmania were tracking to be the driest 12 months – ending in June – on record.

He said large parts of southern and western Western Australia, parts of southern South Australia, western Victoria and most of Tasmania had “serious to severe” rain deficiencies for the past 13 months.

“The four months since February 2024 have been the driest on record for parts of southern South Australia, western Victoria and for parts of northern Tasmania,” he said.

Mr Grainger said minimum temperatures for June were cooler than average across most of the north and east, but warmer than average in the west of Australia.