Low rainfall trend continues
Some light rain last week has done little to boost hay prospects for district farmers as Warragul heads towards its third successive year of below average rainfall.
Only twice since 1900 has Warragul received less rain in October than the 30 millimetres recorded this year.
More than one-third of that came in the 24 hours to 9am on the last day of the month.
And only 9.6 millimetres was measured for the first five days of this month with Bureau of Meteorology forecasts not indicating any substantial falls in the immediate future.
For the 10 months from January to October Warragul received a total of 774.3 millimetres of rain, more than 100 millimetres down on the average since 1900.
Only a handful of kilometres away at the Bureau of Meteorology’s weather station at Nilma North even less rain had been registered.
The total there for the first 10 months of the year was just 664.4 millimetres.
The Bureau’s outlook for the next three months - November to January doesn’t hold great hopes for farmers looking for some solid and consistent rains.
It says it’s likely the region and southeast Australia generally will be drier than average. And it is also predicting temperatures, both during the day and overnight, will be above average.
Last month’s mean maximum daily temperature (23.1 degrees) and minimum (9.5 degrees) were up on last year, the mean maximum 3.5 degrees higher than a year earlier.
Pasture specialist with the Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources at Ellinbank Frank Mickan said prospects for the hay harvest in West and South Gippsland don’t look good at this stage.
The cut will be way down if there isn’t good rain soon, he said.
But Mr Mickan said the situation along the Gippsland coast where there has been little rain is far worse.
In some near-coast areas silage yields have been down by as much as 80 per cent.
Mr Mickan said in West Gippsland the amount of silage cut was in the order of 20 to 30 per cent below average.
However on the brighter side he said quality of the silage had been good because drier conditions and the absence of “pugging” in the paddocks enabled farmers to harvest a month or two earlier than normal.
Warragul’s average yearly rainfall is 1016.3 millimetres.
To reach that this year rain over the next two months will need to be more than 50 per cent greater than the average. BoM doesn’t expect that to happen. Farmers and others living where there are no reticulated water supplies and rely on run off into tanks have been looking at the sky hopefully for a few months but have been largely disappointed.
Historically September and October are the district’s wettest months, but not this year. Local water carrier Ken McIntosh said deliveries to properties started in mid-September, at least two months ahead of normal years.