For Dian Scott, 3, this week’s rain was a welcome chance to pull on his gumboots and get muddy.
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But for farmers in the region, including his father Brad, it meant a lot more.
A dry winter at ‘Springvale’, the Scotts’ mixed sheep, cattle and cropping farm in Burrumbuttock, has made things tough, Mr Scott said.
Paddocks behind the eight-ball, crops cut early, below average yields and cattle destocked.
Even so he maintains he’s one of the lucky ones.
As a sheep and cattle pregnancy scanner Mr Scott has travelled much of the state in recent months and has seen the areas truly devastated by drought.
“I’ve got nothing to complain about,” he said.
“We’re destocking a smidgen around here but the poor people up north are destocking quite a bit – and if they’re not they are paying big money for hay and grain.”
Mr Scott said for farmers who hadn’t cut crops early, the rain would provide a cooler finish and allow what had grown to fill out.
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He said for farmers who have crops to harvest, prices were good, as were lamb prices.
“Our yield locally won’t be record-breaking, but it’ll be something,” he said
“A tonne to an acre yield is quite good, it costs you a couple hundred to put it in the ground and grow it, grain is about $400 a tonne at the moment, so you’re making money.
“Anyone making any money is really very fortunate.”
Mr Scott said from Burrumbuttock to Holbrook there was a southern horseshoe where the drought had not hit as hard.
“Our area is still an oasis compared to areas beyond us,” he said.
“You don’t need to drive far for it to get very dry, even Walbundrie it is prickly, a lot of crops that way especially canola have been cut.
“For some farmers up north the rain is a real double whammy, there was a lack of moisture and frost and now crops are on the ground waiting to be bailed and get rained on.”
The Bureau of Meteorology recorded 3.6mm of rain on Tuesday and has predicted more showers across the week with a 40 per cent change of rain on Thursday and a 60 per cent chance on Saturday.
Temperatures will remain in the twenties, with a forecast high of 29 on Monday.
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