Extremes bite as farmers go from drought to flooding rain

FARMS in parts of Victoria are awash after heavy rain last week turned grass into mud and flooded low-lying vegetable crops.

Drenched: Kelvin Jackson says it’s gone from one extreme to another.

GIPPSLAND  farms are awash after heavy rain last week turned grass into mud and flooded low-lying vegetable crops.

Flooding caused an estimated $400,000 damage to salad crops on one Lindenow farm.

But across Victoria the wet winter continues to fill dams and irrigation storages left critically low by drought.

Western Victoria is finally building some high totals with rain still falling yesterday in Casterton, which has received 34mm for the past week.

Only the Riverina is yet to share in the spoils with less than 10mm for the week.

Toora dairy farmer Kelvin Jackson told The Weekly Times in December all he wanted was one good rain.

“We’ve had 400mm in the past nine weeks and now we just want it to stop,” Mr Jackson said this week.

“The grass has turned into mud, everything is just mud. We have gone from one extreme to the other.”

Andrew Bulmer, of Bulmer Farms, at Lindenow, estimated they lost 30-40 per cent of their baby leaf salad crops, costing about $400,000.

“We had a lot of rain and the Mitchell (River) came up quickly and submerged the crops,” Mr Bulmer said.

“As quick as it comes up it is gone — between 24 and 48 hours — but it causes a lot of damage.”

Mr Bulmer said the flooding happened several years ago and was a regular risk in farming in a high run-off area.

“We are waiting for it to dry out a bit and we’ll get back on it and plant another crop,” he said.

Last week’s rain was a huge fillip for Southern Rural Water storages.

Lake Glenmaggie jumped from 50 per cent to 80 per cent full in one week.

SRW’s western storages rose from 16 per cent last week to 19 per cent by the start of the week, with more than 75mm in Bacchus Marsh.

Pykes Creek reservoir has jumped to 31 per cent from 26 per cent in just two weeks, Melton’s storage has doubled to 14 per cent, and Lake Merrimu is now at 14 per cent, up from 10 per cent.

Key Murray Darling Basin storages rose by 168 gigalitres in the past week with storages now at 40 per cent capacity after the fourth-wettest June in 117 years of records.

The Grampians storages received an extra 6110 megalitres last week and are now at 29 per cent with the big Rocklands Reservoir receiving an extra 1780 megalitres but remaining at 15 per cent full.

The weather bureau said climate models showed above-average rainfall could be expected across southern Australia during winter-spring, with a wetter La Nina possible.