Dry start to sowing season

The Bureau of Meteorology reported while March was wetter than average across most of Victoria, parts of the west and north-west were still waiting for the autumn break.

Matt Rohde, Lorquon, said the main rain event in the last month or two was at the end of February.

"There were two or three days where some fairly stormy weather came through," Mr Rohde said.

"I was fairly patchy - it was hit and miss so we probably had, in the whole event, 30-40 millimetres at home.

"We have a farm only 10 kilometres away and we ended up with 80-90mm up there."

He said he started sowing vetch the weekend after the rain.

"Most of that is up and going but we haven't had much since - we had a run where we had a couple of days where we were getting into 30 degrees, which definitely dried things out, on top."

He said they normally started sowing vetch at the start of April.

"This year we got it in really early, with the moisture, but now we are back to dry sowing."

He assumed the property would be dry sown again.

"The plan is to start, probably Easter Monday, and we will start on some mid-season wheat, Rockstar wheat, then we will put our canola in and then, in that last week in April we will get some lentils in and then swing over and do all our barley, then will come back and finish our lentils and our short season wheat.

"Then after that we will put in some chickpeas."

He said he aimed to finish by the end of May.

He said the last rain was a little bit too early, to provide too much benefit, but it did bring up grasses.

"I really don't know about the autumn break - I don't take too much notice of the forecaster's accuracy, it's generally pretty low, particularly this time of year."

Mr Rodhe said he tried to concentrate on the things he could control, and weather wasn't one of them.

Ray Kingston, Lubeck, runs sheep and grows and crops said it had been a "weird summer.

"It was just wet and cool enough that the stubbles are very green, for this time of year.

"There hasn't been much rain for autumn, so I don't think you'd call it an actual break," Mr Kingston said.

"We've still been getting regular fronts and the outlook is somewhat positive so I think everyone will start cropping here at the end of the month, break or not, with a fair bit of optimism for the season.

"There's patches a little further north that had quite a lot of summer rain, so would be banking on pretty good stored moisture, I'd reckon."

AgriBusiness Consulting Group assessor Marty Colbert, Nhill said there had been scattered showers around Goroke in March, with some totalling 30mm.

"That's been enough to get volunteer cereals, canola and beans up

"But, up here at Nhill, it's been two-thirds of nothing," Mr Colbert said.

"Anyone doing a bit of fencing reckons she's dry all the way down."

When he was camping recently he said he heard a mopoke calling very loudly.

"So he reckons it's going to rain," he said.

Last year crop did not emerge until mid-June, but a good spring brought the harvest home.

"We are starting off with a very dry tank," he said.

Garvoc livestock dairy and beef producer Jack Kenna said the property received 70 millimetres of rain in late January.

"A lot of people weren't under them," he said.

"Thunderstorms are too chancy, really, they're like a raffle

"But we won the raffle and couple of times and were lucky to get a bit of rain.

"All we need now is 22mm of rain, and we would be away."

He said the area received about 60mm for March, unlike other parts of the south west.

"We had my wife's brothers up for lunch, on Sunday, and they are from Koroit, and they couldn't believe how green it was."

Mr Kenna said in the south-west it was generally considered the autumn break would occur around Anzac Day.

"If you go to the May races (Warrnambool) over a 20 year period, there are lot of times where it's pretty dry and they complain about the track being too hard."

He anticipated rain was on the way.

"There are mice up in the ceiling, I can hear them, so I reckon there is a bit of rain about."

Lachie Sutherland, who has a dairy farm at Larpent, said the area around Colac received good rain in February but hadn't had very much since,

"A lot of people got very active and started sowing a lot of paddocks early, but traditionally, all the old timers will say 'wait until St Patrick's Day (March 17)," he said.

"We are still waiting on the autumn break - everyone got quite excited with the good rain in February but I describe it as a false start"

He said it was very dry and dusty, but it could be salvaged if there was rain before it got cold.

"It will affect us, if we don't get rain in the next few weeks - it will be too cold to establish new pasture"