Kilmany dairy farmers Fiona and Frankie Mills have issued an impassioned plea on behalf of producers along the Latrobe River for the release of more water as the cost of fodder continues to rise.
The Mills milk about 530 British Friesian cows across two dairies in Gippsland and rely on irrigated pasture to feed the herd, along with grain and rations of straw and maize.
However, low spring rainfall has prompted the irrigators to call on the state government and Southern Rural Water to free-up water allocations along the river system to improve food security in the region.
Their plea follows a minor flood warning for the Latrobe River after heavy rainfall further west last week.
"In a normal drought, you could access other feed and grain more economically but that's the killer this time because grain is $500 a tonne ... so grass is our only secure option," Mrs Mills said.
"If we could get access to more water we could start buying more tractors, start paying more GST, employ more people.
"It's money generating as well as food generating."
Last year the Mills' used 1200 megalitres of water from the Latrobe River system - 50 per cent of that in temporary transfers - and have already used 250ML this financial year.
"It's not even summer yet," Mr Mills said.
"We believe there is a lot of water in the Latrobe River system that is not allocated or being used to its potential ... there's a lot of water that sits in the Blue Rock Dam and last year it was an extremely dry time and it was still 70 per cent full.
"Yet as farmers we were bidding against each other at auctions to try and buy a miniscule amount of water when there's a lot on the system that should be released or temporarily transferred."
In recent years, the rationalisation of the nearby drain CG Number 2 Nambrok - which is filled by overflow water from the Macalister Irrigation District - has meant producers are unable to fall back on the once reliable reserve.
According to the government, in 2018/19 Southern Rural Water offered 2085ML of water allocation to the irrigators from the drought reserve via three auctions held in February, April and May 2019, with a total volume of 1950ML sold.
An additional 3000ML of temporary water was made available in April to irrigators to purchase, however, only one irrigator chose to purchase 50ML.
But the Mills argued the water offered in April was too late, and should have been offered as early as December/January.
"We want them to offer us this water but much earlier in the season so we can secure reserves and so we know how much money we need to budget," Mrs Mills said.
"If we have to wait until April to get that water, it'll be too little, too late."
In a statement, Water Minister Lisa Neville said the government made as much water as possible available to irrigators.
"Southern Rural Water has held multiple auctions already this year and is working with DELWP to explore opportunities to conduct further water auctions in the coming months.
"Additionally, every Latrobe irrigation customer currently has access to off-quota water as part of SRW's Bulk Entitlement, to take advantage of the Macalister Irrigation District's spill period."