Rain relief
INVERLOCH farmer Gordon Beard relished last Wednesday’s rain of more than 17mm but was more grateful for access to town water that saved his business during the recent drought.
Farmers have been struggling to make ends meet after the driest summer in 50 years, but thanks to access to town water on land Mr Beard leased, he has found himself in a manageable position in the lead up to winter.
“It’s been pretty hard for a lot of farmers over the past two or three months,” he said.
“We have seen half as much rain as we usually do this time of year and hay stock has been low. Pretty soon we will have to start to buy in feed.”
According to the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM), summer rainfall was mostly average to below average in South Gippsland.
“Some farmers have had to access water from the former town reservoir, which cost them a fortune,” Mr Beard said.
“Conditions are poor and hard on everyone, but we’ve managed the property reasonably.”
Mr Beard’s dairy farm is 70 acres with 240 cows. He also owns a share farm in Kongwak.
“If we keep getting rain like this, we should go back to normal soon,” he said.
However, BOM predicted April would continue to be drier than normal in South Gippsland, with a 35 to 40 per cent chance of above average rainfall.
If poor conditions continued, Mr Beard said farmers would expect help from the State Government.
“The State Government has given a bit of help in other parts of Victoria. I hear it’s hard to qualify for a loan here,” he said.
“If it gets any worse, we will need some help. Milk prices have continued to decrease in the last three years, so it’s not looking good.
“Personally, I’m doing all right with resources in reserve but hopefully we see some change.”
A BOM spokesperson said the climate outlook for winter would be released in July. However, one of the drivers affecting recent conditions was the strong El Nino in the Pacific, which is now in decline and expected to return to neutral levels by midyear.
Downpour welcome: Inverloch farmer Gordon Beard was pleased with recent rain after having to use town water to get through the drought.
Short URL: /?p=18147
Posted by Tayla Kershaw on Apr 12 2016. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
