'Barest I've ever seen it': Victorian grazier Bill Lambert is desperate for rain

The Taronga Herefords stud principal farms with his wife Kathy on the property his grandfather settled as a soldier settler following World War I.

Their district has received just 90 millimetres of rain since the start of the year, and paddocks resemble scenes of the Riverina in NSW during the Millennium Drought.

"We're not in drought because we still have water in the dam, but that is getting low though," Mr Lambert said.

"In April we had 20mm, in March we had half a mil and no recorded rain for February.

"It's the barest I've ever seen it... you can actually drop your contact lenses out in the paddock and find them it's that bare."

The Lamberts own Taronga, a 485-hectare grazing property south-east of Casterton, which is home to about 270 Hereford breeders split evenly across their stud and commercial herds.

Mr Lambert has lived on the property his entire life and turns 70 next month.

"It's the driest and barest our country has ever been and that's mainly because we had no rain in spring last year," he said.

"The first thing I do each morning is go out in the tractor and feed until lunchtime.

"I'm feeding out 10 rolls of hay everyday and have just moved into my reserve hay which will see me through until the end of June.

The third-generation farmer received 69mm of rain in January, and compared to this time last year, the Paschendale district had received 190mm, more than double its 2024 total to date.

The Lamberts artificially inseminate their 12 and 13-month-old heifers in May and usually weigh them at the same time.

Mr Lambert said they were 20-30 kilograms lighter compared to last year's herd of heifers.

Towards the end of 2023, about 120 hectares of pasture was "shut up" as a reserve to feed cattle from autumn onwards, however, Mr Lambert said a large kangaroo population had decimated everything of nutritional value.

Fertiliser spread on neighbouring paddocks three weeks ago remains visible on the ground, and lime which went out to improve pasture health in February has "blown into the neighbour's place".

"I have a contractor coming on Friday to sow a paddock because I'm optimistic I might have a bit of hay for next spring," Mr Lambert said.

"If you like nice weather, it's a great place to be because the days have been pretty good... we just aren't getting any rain.

"We're nearly at the middle of May, so we only have three weeks to get any grass to grow, however, there's always someone else worse off than us and that's the only way you can look at it."

Vickery Bros agronomist Elizabeth Kennedy, Coleraine, said much of western Victoria was dry.

"There is moisture 30 centimetres down, but the top is dry as a chip," she said.

"It means that the top soil itself, because we haven't had a decent rain since January, it's very dusty and will need a decent enough rain for pasture to germinate.

"I work between Coleraine and Frances and it's dry all the way, Hamilton is dry, south of Hamilton is dry and along the coast near Heywood and Portland is not as green as normal, but a lot greener than up this way."

Ms Kennedy has worked as an agronomist for five years and said farmers were "hanging out" for rain.

"A lot of people did dry-sow a lot of annuals a month ago because there was no rain on the forecast," she said.

"Not much dry-sown crop has come up because we haven't had any rain yet and we are seeing a few farmers putting in or thinking about perennials, but a lot are waiting to see what happens with the rain."

Bureau of Meteorology climatology specialist Caitlin Minney said rainfall totals for the rest of autumn would likely be below median across western Victoria.

"This does not mean no rain for the remainder of May, rather that rainfall totals are most likely lower than is typical at this time of year," she said.

"The chance of showers increases in south-western Victoria over the weekend (May 18 and 19).

"The likely chance of below-median rainfall is widespread for the next fortnight, with most of the southern two-thirds of Australia likely to receive below-median rainfall until the end of May."

The long-range forecast for June shows no strong signal for below-median rainfall.

"Rather there are around equal chances of above or below median-rainfall," Ms Minney said.

"This is a shift from the dry signal in May across western Victoria.

"For June to August, some areas of western Victoria are likely to have above-median rainfall, with most of Victoria with around equal chances of above or below-median rainfall."