Spring has started to make its presence felt with strong winds, light showers and higher temperatures, according to the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM).
BoM senior forecaster Michael Efron said temperatures of up to 30 degrees were expected in Mildura. It would be much cooler across the south. “There’ll be a few showers over western and southern districts and we could have the rumble of thunder, in the south, as well,” Mr Efron said. “During Friday, we do have a weak high pressure system moving over the state, with lighter winds and generally cooler conditions, compared with Thursday,” Mr Efron said. “There’ll be a couple of showers across south-western districts, on Friday afternoon, and into central districts very late on Friday.
“On Saturday, a strong system will push through, with the main feature being high temperatures and strong winds. At this stage, Mildura could see 31 degrees, but that could be on the low side,”Mr Efron said.
“It’ll be very windy, ahead of a strong system pushing through. The few showers around will be really light, under two millimetres, and not even that into the Mallee. It’ll be more of a wind change, really.”
Woomelang cropper Chris Kelly said the main concerns for the region were frost and mice. “There is quite a lot of soil moisture and a lot of things in the crops’ favour, to withstand really harsh frosts,” Mr Kelly said.
“It’s all about soil moisture, crop health and how long the frosts will last.” Damage would not become apparent for a week to 10 days, after the frost hit. He said he was growing wheat, barley, lentils and canola. “Everyone is feeling good and hoping for the best – there’s six weeks to go.”
Lorquon cropper Matt Rohde said he felt very blessed, considering what many areas of the country were facing. “Overall things are looking great,” Mr Rohde said. “We still have good soil moisture to keep things moving, however we won't knock back anther rain if - and when - it comes. Our biggest risk we still face this season is frost.” Mr Rohde said he was growing vetch, canola, wheat, barley and field peas.
At Highlands, near Seymour, livestocker Brian Leahy said the winter had been “shockingly cold and drizzly. “The last two or three weeks has been really tough on feed, it has got really soft and made the sheep scour quite a bit,” Mr Leahy said.
“There’s been some grass tetany around and we had that really cold snap come through, with frost, and it nearly ended up snowing. It’s been a hard winter for livestock, with drizzly, little falls, so we are not getting the grass growth.”
He said he was running 400 cattle and 3000 sheep, for wool and prime lambs. The grass had “started to jump out of the ground” in the last week. “We are just getting bits and pieces and we wonder where we are going to be, when we get into October and November,” Mr Leahy said.
Andrew Grellet, Great Western, has a Merino operation and said he was looking forward to some warmer weather, following a fair bit of rain over the last couple of months.
Mr Grellet said the dry June didn't cause too much concern, as he knew the rain would eventually come. "It was just a matter of when," Mr Grellet said. And it did come, and has been wet since late July.
"It's been a good season, the dams are all full, and feed-wise, I think we'll get a good crop for harvest," he said.
He has received about nine millimetres of rain since Monday, and also had some heavy frost on Sunday.
"I was concerned it might cause a bit of damage, but we had a warmer day the next day, so I was pleased it wasn't too much of an issue," he said.
Grower and agronomist, Bec Marshall, Normanville, north of Boort, grows 3000ha of wheat, barley, lentils, canola, peas and vetch.
“The southern Mallee has just started its second September in a row with high - very high soil moisture levels in general,” Ms Marshall said.
“Crops are looking very promising and cool conditions to date have been kind apart from a few frosts. “
She said frequent showers and high yield potential had meant the boomsprays had been kept busy, applying extra nitrogen and fungicide.
“Big crops are starting to really draw down on soil moisture reserves now as we tick through September and as in every season in the Mallee.
“Eyes are on the horizon for a good spring rain to bring crops home strongly,” she said.
