Weather: Harvest stops, livestock producers on alert

Farmers were on high alert on Monday as the mercury hit 40C with harvest stopping and livestock sales affected.

Soaring temperatures put livestock and cropping farmers on alert on Monday, with sales and harvest affected by the heat.

There were several stop harvest alerts issued in southern NSW and Victoria with the mercury rising above 40C by lunchtime. Meanwhile, homes were losing power across Victoria.

However, by Tuesday morning a cooler change had arrived and delivered small amounts of rain.

Ryan Milgate, of Minyip said a couple of spots of rain had arrived overnight after the extreme heat on Monday.

Rutherglen farmer Ashley Fraser said there was no rain of note after the hot weather on Monday but a light sprinkle had arrived on Tuesday morning.

On Monday the NSW Fire Service issued cease harvest alerts for Carrathool, Hay, Griffith, Leeton, Murrumbidgee, Narrandera, Edward River, Murray River, Berrigan and Federation shires.

An RFS spokesman said the current conditions meant fires could start, and spread rapidly with the potential to threaten life and property.

up until today, the top 10 highest temperatures ever recorded in December belonged to 2019...

Walpeup has passed 47°C so far today. pic.twitter.com/VpwK52BXy1

— CaptainZero 📚🌪️ (@KevinPhyland) December 16, 2024

Nearly 10,000 homes were without power across northern Victoria, Gippsland and southwest Victoria on Monday afternoon, and about 3000 remained without power by Tuesday morning.

A Powercor statement said crews were working to restore power to 5300 customers after extreme temperatures and strong winds.

“[The] extreme fire danger means we are operating our bushfire safety devices on the power network in a more sensitive setting than usual to protect communities and reduce fire risk,” it said.

The Bureau of Meteorology recorded strong winds up to 96kmh and 16mm of rain in isolated areas overnight on Monday, as storms moved across Victoria. Mt Sabine near Apollo Bay recorded 16mm, while Mortlake and Balmoral had 12mm.

Vendors who sell at NSW’s Wagga Wagga Livestock Marketing Centre were urged to only send stock on a “need to” basis by the centre’s manager Paul Martin.

Livestock agents said on Monday morning despite the heat, most of the selling was completed before the hot conditions arrived during the middle of the day.

Auctioneer James Tierney of Riverina Livestock Agents, Wagga Wagga. Picture: Nikki Reynolds

James Tierney of Riverina Livestock Agents at Wagga Wagga said 3975 cattle went under the hammer during the cattle market.

He said RLA were second in the draw, meaning the selling had completed before temperatures climbed higher than the 30s.

“It wasn’t too bad, it was good to be finished early,” he said.

Cropping farmers are welcoming forecasts of hot weather. Picture: Zoe Phillips

In the Mallee temperatures climbed into the mid-40s while at 12.10pm it was 44.5C at Walpeup and 40.2C at Wycheproof.

Walpeup has been one of the hottest places in the state with cropper and sheep farmer Simon Morrison declaring it “probably the most evil day I’ve ever seen”.

The temperature hit 47.1C at 2.30pm with wind gusts of 65km.

“It’s just hot and windy,” he said.

“I went outside at 6am and it was nearly 30C then.

“The only thing I’ve done today is check the sheep a couple of times and make sure they’re under the shade and the water is all right.

“There is definitely no harvesting today, but there is only a handful of acres to go anyway.”

The first bushfire was reported in the southwest on the Casterton-Edenhope Road at 12.52pm, but VicEmergency downgraded the threat at 2.05pm.

The Bureau of Meteorology had a forecast high of 46C at Mildura and Hay, 42C at Geelong, 40 at Wagga Wagga, NSW and Leongatha, 39C at Sale and 32C at Bendigo.

Communities across Victoria are facing dangerous fire conditions today.

The National Large Air Tanker has been prepositioned by the National Aerial Firefighting Centre in Albury to allow for a quick response across the state if required.

— Catherine King MP (@CatherineKingMP) December 16, 2024

In Victoria the Country Fire Authority issued a total fire ban for the Southwest, Wimmera, Mallee, Central (including Melbourne and Geelong), North Central, Northern Country and the West and South Gippsland regions.

Maximum temperatures were forecast to reach a peak of 47C.

CFA chief officer Jason Heffernan said a total fire ban also meant no harvesting activities.

Meanwhile, farmers in Victoria account for the lion’s share of harvest deliveries this week after notching up a total of 610,900 tonnes during challenging times.

So far for the 2024 harvest Victorian farmers have delivered 2,041,900 tonnes of grain to GrainCorp depots. The total for the eastern states is 10,397,300.

A spokesperson for GrainCorp said the run of wet weather in southern NSW and Victoria had delayed deliveries.

Anthony Mulcahy of Skipton stopped harvesting at 1am on Monday after deeming the conditions were too dangerous and the fire danger too high.

He plans to get going again on Wednesday and Thursday if rain doesn’t arrive in the interim.

“We have only harvested about 100ha of wheat and have 700ha to go,” he said.

He didn’t expect to be finished harvest before Christmas, but that was also typical for his region.

He has recorded yields for wheat of 4.5 tonnes a hectare to 5 tonnes a hectare.

On Monday during the mid-afternoon, he said the mercury climbed to 42C at his property.