Most of Victoria records well-below average rainfall for October

MOST of Victoria has recorded just a fraction of its average rainfall for October as El Nino bites.

Boort farmer Richard Cockerell holds a handful of dead wheat. Picture: Nathan Dyer

MOST of Victoria has recorded just a fraction of its average rainfall for October as El Nino bites.

A Weekly Times analysis of rainfall data from 48 weather bureau weather stations across the state shows all have failed to meet average October totals with just five days of the month remaining and little on the radar in terms of relief.

Twenty-one stations have recorded 10 per cent or less of average October rain and all but five less than half.

The figures shows Echuca (0.6mm) has fared the worst — with just 1 per cent of its average Oct­ober rain — followed by Cape Otway and Port Fairy (3 per cent), Ballarat, Geelong, Mortlake and Stawell (4 per cent), Ararat and Benalla (5 per cent), Hamilton (6 per cent) and Kerang and Mangalore (7 per cent).

Ian Maddison, of Maddison Livestock and Property, at Echuca, said this year was one of the driest since the 1982 drought. Unlike then, however, this year there had been enough rain to “get crops going”.

“But they’ve melted back into the paddock,” he said.

Any rain now would not benefit winter crops but “might save irrigators one watering”.

“It would be much more advantageous to us if there were big falls in the catchments — so allocations could be cranked up to 100 per cent.”

At the other end of the scale, thanks to a fall of more than 40mm last week, Bairnsdale has made 84 per cent of its 60.1mm October average, followed by Omeo (80 per cent), Orbost (64 per cent), Tatura (53 per cent) and Wangaratta (52 per cent).

Bairnsdale farmer Trevor Caithness said the 50mm that fell on his home property last week was “fantastic finishing rain” with wheat between flowering and the milky head stages and canola just two to three weeks away from being windrowed.

“We were very fortunate, you don’t have to go too far into central Gippsland and they didn’t get a lot,” Mr Caithness said.

While his crops were looking good, a wet winter had led to a second germination of ryegrass, which meant some were “a bit dirty” with weed contamination, he said.