It has been an extremely dry start to this year’s season for farmers off the back of last year’s green drought.


According to Elder’s weather, the South East has received around a third of the year’s average rainfall of 88mm with only 31.8mm recorded so far compared to 45.8mm this time last year.


Meanwhile the average maximum temperature for March was up 3.9° and the total rainfall was less than half of the long term average.


Mount Gambier Combined Agents chair Chris Manser said following late rains last year, there has been a lack of summer rain this season besides the recent thunderstorm.


“What has really happened is that normally down here we get summer rains whereas this year basically other than that electrical storm we had there the other day that created a few mms in places and a bit more in others … we have really had no summer rains,” he said.


“If you talk to some of the older locals, they are saying it is the driest they have seen it for a long time in their farming career.


“There have been some dry years, 1967 is one they related to last year and certainly 1982 leading up to Ash Wednesday was certainly another tougher year again and I think 2006 was another tough one.


“We have had tough years before but where we are a little bit optimistic is if you look at that history for here locally we tend to have a bad year but … we usually do not get two or three in a row down here.


“Last year we ended up having those rains in early September, October and November and for down here it set us up that we were able to cut some hay.”


Mr Manser said farmers are opting to feed their stock every couple of days to manage their hay supply and get through the season.


“Some of the hay was spoilt because of the late rain or the quality of it was not quite as good but there was still that bulk that was cut so it enabled people to be able to replenish their hay stacks,” he said.


“Our dry feed still had that quality in it because it did not have that summer rain so that’s been a bit of a bonus.


“There was a lot of fodder that was purchased last year to get them through and there have been more purchases now because not everyone cut the full volume of hay they wanted so they have had to buy extra in whether that be grain or hay so supplement feeding has really put a dent in the cash flow.”


Mr Manser said farmers have a drizzle of hope that this year’s usual break will occur around late April with rains then continuing.


“We have come to the stage now where we are looking to the skies and we are looking for hopefully our traditional Anzac Day opening rains,” he said.


“It is dry but traditionally that is when we get our break is around Anzac Day but yes we would like it a bit earlier this year if at all possible, it would be lovely and it would be welcomed with open arms.


“It would stop a lot of this hand feeding or at least we would see a window when that hand feeding was going to finish.


“Farmers are optimistic and we are hoping for that Anzac break and then to continue because we had the rain around that Easter/Anzac period last year but then it stopped.


“That being dry last year has somewhat flowed into now so it is quite dry. We do not want another year like last year.”


Third generation cattle and sheep farmer Neil Shepherd from Kongorong said conditions are the driest he has ever seen them in the South East despite farming for nearly 30 years.


“I have never seen it this dry before and talking to a lot of older farmers, older than me, they have never seen it this dry either. You might get a couple of dry years but this is a little bit unprecedented,” he said.


“We had good rains which probably gave us some bulk feed and hay and silage crops but we have had no significant rain since the first or second week of December. We have been surviving on that moisture we got then.


“Where we were a bit lucky is we did not get the summer rain so what feed we did have was actually quite good quality which has helped but the quality has gone now out of that because of too much wind and too dry for too long.


“We would like to think the Anzac Day break comes earlier and we hope for it but at the end of the day that is our average break so anything before that is probably a bonus and anything after that tends to be a little bit hard.


“We probably have not got that back up of being able to buy hay, there will be no hay supplies out there.


“There is just not a lot of hay supplies about and usually there might be some that’s sort of been hanging around for a couple of years or something like that in sheds somewhere but that was used up last year.


“If we can get our break somewhere before Anzac Day and we get a kind winter then we should be right.”


Mr Shepherd is one of many South Australian farmers who will receive funding through PIRSA’s $5m On-farm Drought Infastructure Rebate Scheme which was introduced in November last year.


The scheme is for primary producers to implement infrastructure projects that assist with managing current drought conditions and strengthen preparedness for future droughts.


Successful applicants must be able to cover the full cost of the infrastructure and will be reimbursed through the grant for 75% of the total cost up to a maximum grant of $5000.


Mr Shepherd said he while he is grateful for the funding, which he will use to run poly pipe from his water pump to the tank to a trough, he thinks the criteria should be broadened to help farmers feed and water their stock.


“I think there is some that need help feeding stock and actual carting of water and things like that or maybe subsidies for freight to get stock away,” he said.


“I think it should be more towards trying to feed an animal or actually getting water to an animal.


“It is there as an offer, we can utilise it but that is not going to make it rain and it is not going to feed an animal. It is also another cost we probably do not need at the moment.


“It is available but I think it should be made more available.”