Dry storms deliver no reprieve for western Vic as the east gets rain

Dry, windy weather continues to hammer Western Victoria with farmers warning the mood is fragile amongst their community.

THURSDAY, 1pm

Western Victoria’s green drought is moving into a stock water drought.

Hot, windy weather has hit the region in the past 24 hours as storms have rolled over to the east, but little to no rain has fallen across vast areas of the west of the state.

The difficulties, which have hit the state’s livestock production powerhouse area, have dragged on for 18 months and now many farms face dwindling water supplies, a lack of paddock and stored fodder with at least two months to go before the break.

But many producers say their on-farm water supplies won’t last that long without rain.

Other than the physical challenges, there is also a rising concern for the wellbeing of farmers and the financial position of many farms.

Vasey commercial and stud cattle breeder Andrew Lyons said he was concerned about the mental health of the community.

“The big picture is some young farmers are not going to handle it - and I mean mentally,” Mr Lyons said.

“The issues for us have just kept snowballing, I’ll be honest with you, it is going to be a big problem and it needs to be talked about.

“We have gone from a feed drought to a water drought (stock water); it is the driest I have ever seen it.

“A lot of people are struggling financially.”

Mr Lyons said the difficult period started 18 months ago, when livestock prices hit low levels.

“Then we got this drought, and it is dragging on,” he said.

“Now, the water situation, I think we have a month left with many dams; people are going to sell off more stock, sell their cattle.

“We have these thunderstorms coming through but we aren’t getting any rain out of them.

“You might have two farms and one gets a heavy shower, the other misses out, but it is dry everywhere across Western Victoria.”

Mr Lyons urged fellow farmers to chat to a friend or neighbour if they were feeling the pressure.

Coleraine farmer Craig Grant said dams in his area were half to a third full.

“It is not only how much water is left, but it is also the mud, which makes it hard for stock to access what is there,” Mr Grant said.

“I think people will start getting rid of stock,” he said.

“Realistically it will be June or July before we get good run-off.”

Casterton’s Nutrien livestock agent Rick Smith said rain kept missing the region. “Yes, East Gippsland and Melbourne got a bit, but its not much use when it is raining in Melbourne,” he said.

Mr Smith said producers sold down any surplus stock and some breeding sheep stocking rates had been reduced to conservative levels.

“People haven’t wanted to be feeding through again - they don’t want groundhog day - so they are not accepting any passengers and are selling early,” he said.

“Water is obviously the big one, and there are a lot of hot March days yet to come.”

Other business, including a horticulture venture as far south as Warrnambool are also slashing production due to drought and rising costs.

Volcano Produce, a “spray free fruit” and veggies producer and direct to consumer selling enterprise at Tower Hill, this week cited the driest 18 months in record for the region as one of the reasons for reduced production and its decision to cease its home delivery routes across much of western Victoria.

Rising costs of farming were also cited as a reason for the business to make major changes to stay viable.

WEDNESDAY, 4pm

A total fire ban has been declared for Thursday covering three regions across southern Victoria.

Forecasts of hot and windy conditions led to authorities declaring the ban for the North Central, South West and Central regions.

Country Fire Authority chief officer Jason Heffernan said Thursday’s conditions in the central and south-western parts of Victoria will make it difficult for firefighters to suppress a fire should one start.

Regions covered by the ban include Hamilton, Portland, Colac, Warrnambool, Ballarat, Geelong, Seymour, Marysville, Avoca, Daylesford, Wonthaggi and greater Melbourne.

“There is potential for dry lightning to come with the thunderstorms, and although we are anticipating rainfall to follow them, there is still a risk of strikes causing new fire starts,” the CFA chief said.

“While the Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park and Little Desert National Park fires were contained over the weekend, we will continue to monitor containment lines for hot spots tomorrow both on the ground and in the air.

A Total Fire Ban means no fire can be lit in the open air or allowed to remain alight from 12.01am to 11.59pm.

Tomorrow’s hot and windy conditions will see temperatures reach mid to high 30s statewide before a gusty cooler south westerly wind change in the early afternoon, likely to hit the Grampians by 2pm and Ballarat by 5pm.

WEDNESDAY, 12pm

Wild weather and substantial rain have lashed parts of southern NSW and the Riverina in the past few days, but farmers say dams and stock water are still low.

Pat Bourke of Urana in southern NSW said the rain was fairly intense with big storms sweeping through his area.

“There were storms at Corowa, too, and we had about 30mm to 40mm in this area,” he said.

“The rain seemed to drift more to the west as you got to the Urana area, and overall, it was very patchy.”

Lightning also wreaked havoc, and a total of 2582ha at Morundah was burnt after a fire took hold.

Pat Bourke of Urana, Southern NSW. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

The NSW Rural Fire Service had the fire at Yamma Road, Morundah, which was listed as “under control” on Wednesday morning.

“It was fortunate about 8mm arrived at Morundah in a really short space of time to help control the fire,” he said.

Mr Bourke said the recent rain was beneficial for livestock producers and would boost lucerne crops.

But it wasn’t considered season-changing rain.

To the north at Junee, Tony Clough of Windermere measured 41mm of rain in the past week and said it would help to generate some growth.

“There are people out and about sowing and putting in some early oats,” he said.

Mr Clough said rainfall of 40mm to 140mm were experienced in his region, indicating just how patchy the storms were.

“We just need more water for our dams. The dams are dry,” he said.

Despite the recent rainfall, Mr Clough said stock water was still in short supply.

He said more rain for his area was forecast later this week on Friday and Saturday.

East Gippsland has received a late summer drenching with daily totals of more than 100mm, which have been described as an “early autumn break for us”.

Gippsland escaped the big dry in many areas of Victoria last month with East Gippsland the beneficiary of an intense east coast low at the weekend with Mt Moornapa, near Briagolong, receiving 107.8mm in the 24 hours to 9am Monday.

Close by at Reeves Knob there has been a three-day total of 252.4mm including 116.2mm in the 24 hours to 9am Tuesday.

Further east, Orbost had a daily total of 101.4mm to Monday 9am and a further 33.2mm to 9am Tuesday.

Chris Nixon, a cattle farmer at nearby Bete Bolong, welcomed similar totals.

“We’ve had over 100mm here,” he said.

“We’ve greened right up and had run off for dams which is good.

“It’s like an early autumn break for us.

“It’s excellent.”

Others areas to receive useful three-day totals were Stratford (107.4mm) and Lake Glenmaggie (128.2mm).

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, a total of 152mm fell at Orbost, Ensay had 82mm, Maffra, 69mm, Corryong, 32mm and Rutherglen, 29mm. Across the border in NSW, Orange, 106mm, Mudgee, 74mm, Junee, 72mm and Lake Cargelligo, 50mm.

In South Australia smaller amounts of rain were recorded with 11mm at Koonamore, and 8mm at Strathearn.