Million dolllar Mallee hail hit

The storm passed through a narrow band around Chillingollah, Tempy and Speed.

But AgriBusiness Consulting Group assessor Marty Colbert said the hail had affected a narrow strip of about two kilometres wide to 25km long, with barley losses averaging about 25 per cent and wheat 15pc where it hit.

"The barley losses are anywhere up to 60pc, in the same paddock there might be nothing, in the wheat, it's ranging from 40pc to 0pc," Mr Colbert said.

"If you can imagine someone throwing a ball down a pitch, it's touched down every four or five kilometres.

"As wind moves along, it lifts the hail, but it's got to gain enough height to get heavy enough to fall."

He said there would likely be a few "stragglers"' who reported hail damage when it came to harvest.

Nutrien Ag Solutions agronomist Andrew McMahen, Manangatang, said most of the district received rain, rather than hail.

"The worst of the damage could be significant; I am hearing a few reports of around 20-50pc damage," Mr McMahen said.

"A lot more will emerge in the coming weeks, as we get into harvest.

"It may not be the whole paddock was hit evenly, so you don't really know what you've lost until you are into it."

For others, crops had made a remarkable recovery after decent rain.

Underbool grain, hay and pulse grower Andrew Willsmore said the property was in "all sorts of trouble" in September.

"It was looking very dire, but we have had an excellent finish," Mr Willsmore said.

"It's been nice and cool, and we are very happy with the way things have turned out up here from what we thought was going to be pretty ordinary."

He was expecting a 2 tonne average on cereals, with 1t for lupins, although the vetch hay yields would be down.

"They are not monumental, but to get a 2t average of what we were looking at, I think will be a great result," he said.

"I would say most places have had 25 millimetres, after six months where we only had 36mm."

A Bureau of Meteorology spokesperson said it was not uncommon to get thunderstorms moving through the area.

"We had a pretty complex low pressure system, which generated some decent thunderstorms," the spokesperson said.

At the other end of the state, Gippsland dairy farmers reported continual rain was playing havoc with pastures.

Stony Creek farmer Doug Hanks said he had never seen it so wet for so long.

"We have good all-weather laneways, so we can move our cattle around, it's just we have the problem that when we put them in a paddock they just trash it so quickly and then they won't eat it," Mr Hanks said.

"There's grass there, but once they push it into the mud, they don't want to touch it.

"Then they think they are hungry - they want it handed to them on a platter, they don't like working for it."

He said the tops of the hills were still wet, with the sides running water.

It had rained since July, without the usual break in the weather in September, where things would dry out.

"This year, the profile has never dried out," he said.

Mr Hanks said it was so wet that he was considering not making silage for the first time in 40 years.