Milking the Weather - March 2011 Edition
Dairy state roundup for summer (December 2010—February 2011)
Northern Irrigation Region (NIR):
It has been the wettest summer on record for many parts of the NIR. This has led to some major flooding in many areas. The farms that have escaped inundation are still green, even in areas that have not been irrigated. While this has some benefits it may make establishing autumn crops and pastures more challenging. Very little irrigation has been required so far this season. Many farmers will not be able to use all their allocation this season so will need to carry some over. Locusts gave large parts of the area a battering in December. They are now reappearing again as adults and could cause a large headache during autumn sowing.
North East:
The rain has hardly stopped falling over the past few months which has lead to some major flooding in the valleys. These high flowing floods have caused devastation to crops and pastures, conserved forage, fences, laneways and infrastructure. The rising country above ‘the flats’ has benefited from the rain and has continued to provide valuable quality feed to the dairy herd through the summer.
The wet and mild season has enticed some dryland farmers to sow earlier (late February onwards) as they perceive the risk of failure to be low compared to previous years. Those with fertile river flats or irrigation infrastructure are also planning to sow more perennial ryegrass pastures this year in anticipation of another ‘good’ spring and summer next year.
Macalister Irrigation District:
For the first time since unbundling there has been 100 per cent HRWS* and 100 per cent LRWS*. Summer rainfall enabled irrigators to have some time off. However, the humidity has encouraged weed species to emerge making quality an issue in many pastures.
*HRWS—High Reliability Water Share
*LRWS—Low Reliability Water Share
South West:
Summer in the South West has been much wetter than average - with flooding on a number of river systems in the region during January. Pasture and forage crop growth has been excellent with minimal hay and silage feeding required.
South West Gippsland:
The exceptional rainfall event in February left considerable damage on some farms, but for most summer could be described as one of the best. Growth has been unbelievably good. Ideal hay making weather was scarce, so there is a lot of low quality hay around. Little or no feeding out required to date.
Coastal East:
Summer rainfall was one of the highest. However most came in late summer. In most instances fodder feeding has been less and summer crops have yielded well. Soil moisture should be sufficient to enable a strike for autumn plantings.
