Central Gippsland beef grazier Ian Baillie was expecting some kind of flood "around spring" along the Latrobe River, days after he was forced to move 300 cattle to higher ground to avoid a rising river.
Heavy rainfall upstream in smaller catchments has flooded already saturated paddocks in parts of the Latrobe Valley and east of Traralgon, especially the low-lying flats along estuaries like the Latrobe River.
Mr Baillie, who has spent his life in Tyers, said the moderate flood had placed about 60 hectares or 15 per cent of his property along the river underwater.
"We've only had about 34mm of rain but the catchments in the Moe and Morwell rivers have had quite a lot more and that's come down into the Latrobe River," he said.
"We had probably 300 cattle in five different herds down on the flat and we left them down there as long as we could, but shifted them up on Sunday afternoon."
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Unlike the June 2021 flood, which destroyed homes and left farmland underwater for weeks, Mr Baillie said this flood was about half the size of last year's weather event - and did not rise as quickly as its 2021 counterpart.
"If the water goes back off the paddocks quick enough, it doesn't have a lot of effect on the pasture, but if it hangs around for more than a week, then it tends to ruin the pasture," he said.
Graziers with flooded farms hope the water will subside within three to four days to prevent the pasture becoming rank.
However, Mr Baillie said in recent years, flood waters had taken much longer to dissipate compared to previous decades due to a number of environmental factors downstream.
"The Latrobe River is fairly blocked up because of the willow trees which hang over the river from both sides," he said.
"The river really needs to be cleaned up because in my experience, the water hangs around a lot longer than it did say 20 or 30 years ago."
It comes as the Bureau of Meteorology on Tuesday issued a La Nina alert, indicating there was now a 70 per cent chance of a La Nina being declared in 2022.
If the La Nina - which typically brings with it increased rainfall - takes place, it will be the first time on record Australia would have experienced three consecutive La Nina events.
Angus breeder Luke Stuckey, Leawood Angus, Flynn, moved three herds of cattle to higher ground on Sunday afternoon as his family anticipated some of their country along the Latrobe River would flood.
Since Sunday, about 150 hectares of the Stuckey's country at Flynn has gone under water where 56 millimetres of rain fell between Friday and Wednesday morning.
"It put a lot of pressure on our top country because we had over 400 cattle down on the flats," he said.
"They've come up to our top country where we don't have a lot of grass, but the sandy soil on that higher land does help a bit."
Mr Stuckey said the floods would destroy the pasture on the low-lying country in the coming weeks.
"We expect that water to sit on that flat country for a good three to four weeks and that's the best case scenario if it doesn't rain again," he said.
"So we'll have to plant a summer crop because everything will be dead again which means the cattle won't go back down there until late spring."
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.
"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."
Further upstream at Traralgon, beef cattle farmer Alan Paulet was also in the process of relocating cattle 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 100mm in the 24 hours to 9am on Monday, " Mr Arvier said.
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.