Frosts and dry conditions have pummelled farming regions

Farmers are hoping for season-saving rain after a run of windy conditions followed this week by three consecutive frosts for some regions.

Farmers are hoping for season-saving rain after a run of windy conditions followed this week by three consecutive frosts for some regions.

Rain is falling across much of Tasmania, and another front is expected to deliver falls of up to 14mm throughout drought-parched parts of Victoria early next week.

However, farmers are still concerned that any rain might be downgraded by Sunday or early next week.

Hamilton livestock and cropping farmer Todd Venning said his area had escaped frosts this week but was certainly not out of danger for late-season frost to arrive.

“We are expecting 0 to 10mm (of rain) early next week,” he said.

“(But) I am pretty pessimistic about the spring.”

Some parts of northern Victoria and southern NSW have had three frosts in a row. Picture: Zoe Phillips

Mr Venning said the volume of both crops and pasture had not been good.

“Autumn and winter were atrocious,” he said.

So far for the month, the Bureau of Meteorology has recorded a handy 44mm of rain at Hamilton airport, but earlier on, conditions were dry.

Mr Venning said the concerns for summer would be water availability for stock and whether there would be enough water for fire fighting.

At Westmere, Graeme McCrow said there was one word to describe the recent weather conditions, and that was “windy.”

Graeme McCrow in his crops at Westmere. Pic: Supplied

He was grateful for recent rainfall but said the area really needed 25mm in one hit to boost crops throughout spring.

In the past week, 3mm was received at Westmere, with a total of 23.6mm for the month.

“Things are going okay; the crops are looking good without being bin busters,” he said.

“There is no frost for us yet, but we are still at risk.”

At Warracknabeal, the incidence of frost occurred almost on a paddock-by-paddock basis.

Jason Mellings said Wednesday had the worst frost, and the cold weather seemed to stay around for longer.

“Some people in this area had a frost and others didn’t,” he said.

A crop of barley at Raywood. Picture: Zoe Phillips

Mr Mellings said he wasn’t sure if the crops were advanced enough to experience damage, but he expected any assessments to be made in the next two weeks.

“There are still a lot of crops with no pods on lentils, but canola may have suffered a little bit,” he said.

He was hoping to see falls of 10mm to 14mm in his area from Monday next week but he said it was possible any rain could be downgraded.

“We wait and see,” he said.

The BOM is forecasting up to 5mm for Kyneton on Friday and another 7mm on Saturday. Stawell farmers can expect up to 5mm on Saturday and light showers on Sunday, with an additional 6mm on Tuesday.

The forecast for Bendigo is 4mm on Saturday, and further light showers until Tuesday.

At Ballarat, the forecast was more optimistic, with a 5mm forecast for both Thursday and Friday and 6mm on Sunday.