Wet weather prompts Gippsland cattle farmers to move cattle to higher ground

Flood and marine weather warnings remain in place for eastern and north-eastern Victoria as a low-pressure system in Bass Strait brings increased rainfall and wind gusts up to 90 kilometres an hour at coastal areas.

Gippsland Angus breeder Luke Stuckey, Leawood Angus, Flynn, said he had moved three herds of cattle since Sunday afternoon as his family anticipated some of their country along the Latrobe River to flood.

"We have two properties along the Latrobe and at our main home property, Leawood, two mobs were pulled out of the river country last night in preparation for the paddock to go under water," he said.

"Another mob was pulled out on Monday morning at the same property.

"We took the most important cattle out first, the bulls, and then some cows and calves were also moved."

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It is the first major flood for graziers along the Latrobe River this year and while the rain forecast predicts less rain in the coming days, graziers like Mr Stuckey expect the river to rise for some time.

"It's filling up on that flat country now and it takes up to 24 hours for the bulk of the water to get here so by Tuesday we could be 1.5 or two metres under," he said.

We thought we were going to get away without a flood this year, but it looks like it's coming."

Mr Stuckey said it was the first time in weeks the region had experienced rainfall of more than 24mm in a 24-hour period, as opposed to recent "pop-up showers" of 5-10mm every few days.

Further upstream at Traralgon, beef cattle farmer Alan Paulet was also in the process of relocating cattle on Friday morning as his country along the Latrobe River began to flood.

"We're just moving some cattle at the moment and expecting some minor flooding, but let's hope it's not what it was last time in June 2021.

"We've had 25mm on our Toongabbie property, and about 60mm out at Flynn."

Mr Paulet runs cattle on two properties which have Latrobe River frontage and expected 20pc of both properties to be under water within the 24 hours to Tuesday morning.

"We started with a high moisture profile heading into winter with all the summer and autumn rainfall so the average rainfall has probably made it wetter than average," he said.

Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Chris Arvier said "slow and steady" rainfall had contributed to some significant rainfall totals across parts of Gippsland, including the Latrobe Valley.

"There's been widespread falls in that area of 50-60mm, but isolated totals up to 90mm in the 24 hours to 9am on Monday, " Mr Arvier said.

"We're expecting rainfall to continue over the next two days, but the good news is it will be much less than what we saw over the weekend."

Yarragon South recorded the highest falls at the weekend with 94mm in the gauge, while further west Upper Lang Lang recorded 91mm.

Meanwhile, farmers in the north-east of the state are urged to remain alert despite some of the easing conditions in the southern half of the state.

"It's still wet in the north-east of the state and further rainfall for that part of Victoria later this week could contribute to some river rises including along the Kiewa and Ovens rivers and the Murray River too," he said.