Limestone Coast farmers are rejoicing as the arrival of late August rains have seemingly broken the threatening green drought after an unseasonably dry winter.
Halfway through August Mount Gambier had only recorded less than half of its long term monthly average, with heavy rainfalls on August 16 (16.8mm) and August 17 (14.8mm) boosting the totally to 47.4mm.
The long term average August rainfall for Mount Gambier is 95.5mmm and this year the city recorded 74.4mm for the month.
The long term average rainfall to August is 496.9mm, however the region had only recorded 363mm this year, while 561mm had fallen at the same time in 2023.
Mount Gambier Combined Agents chair Chris Manser said this year farmers did not experience the usual autumn break which traditionally occurs around Anzac Day.
“We had a little bit around that time and it basically struck our country so it made it green but there was no follow up so there was no real growth and that held on through a lot of fogs in the mornings,” he said.
“Then we had a little bit through the winter but not enough to generate the feed to get growing and then we also had a string of quite severe frosts as well which basically delayed the growth, but we have turned the corner.
“A fortnight ago we had good rains, the district sort of copped anywhere between an inch to two inches of rain over a week odd period of time and just this last week we have had some more showers as well.
“The response in the growth of the feed has been phenomenal. The country now looks a really deep green and there is certainly stock feed now starting to grow.”
Mr Manser said if the downpours continued into September and October it would transform the season into a positive one.
“If we can get those rains, we will look back on this year and say it was a tough start, a tough middle but it ended up a good year as long as we can get a good spring,” he said.
“That will help us cut hay, cut silage and fatten up a few stock.
“Around our area here we basically rely on those August, September and October rains. They are our main months for rain and that will set us up for a good season.
“There is a lot of confidence out there at the moment and farmers are very positive type people. They are looking at a positive outcome and just want to get these September and October rains and I am sure they will be here.”
Mr Manser, who has been a stock agent for over 25 years, said it has been one of the toughest seasons he has ever seen with older farmers comparing it to 1967.
“This has been one of the toughest seasons I can remember. Certainly there has been some months where it has been a tough but this one has dragged on,” he said.
“We are pretty well guaranteed a season down here and we are in a fortunate place where we do tend to always get those big autumn and winter rains but this year we completely missed out on them.
“We have had the odd later start than normal like we have had a June and July start before but this one in particular was a lot tougher.
“We are certainly not used to that in our area, normally rain is almost a given. The winds really are not going to do us too much damage as long as we can just keep getting that rain.”
Mr Manser said last year’s low harvest added to the tough season as it meant farmers had to purchase hay at a higher cost.
“We just did not have the feed and last year’s spring was not really good so that had an impact going forward because we did not have the hay or fodder reserves of normal,” he said.
“Last spring’s hay cut was about half on what it normally was so that in itself did not set us up with fodder supplies going forward and … we were at a low base to start the year so that was a contributing factor of what happened to this year.
“There has been a lot of fodder which has been brought into the area which is very abnormal.
“We are normally selling off surplus hay to other people that might be in trouble but this year we were in trouble and a lot of farmers ran out of fodder where normally they would not, so they had to buy that unfortunately at a premium price.
“It has been a costly exercise for them to get the fodder and a lot of people took that choice rather than sell off, they wanted to keep their breeding nucleus and brought in fodder to maintain their animals which has paid dividends because the season is definitely away and it will continue to do so.”
Mr Manser said farmers have stopped offloading cattle early and the price is better than it was at the same time last year.
“Some people had to offload stock where they would have normally taken them on to heavier weights or older cattle so they offloaded them a little bit earlier than normal but that has since stopped,” he said.
“The price of cattle is pretty good, it is certainly better than it was this time last year so it is all looking positive.
“We have come off a historical high with the prices the year before so 2022 was really good and then 2023 we sort of saw a big dramatic fall in the prices and since then we have recovered from that.
“They are not the prices we had in 2022 but they are certaintly a lot better than 2023.”
