Rainfall outlook offering some hope for farmers

Rain relief could be on the way for farmers in the Eastern half of Tasmania in spring, but it is not looking as promising for the rest of the state.

Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) data for August showed that, apart from the North-East of the state and other isolated pockets, rainfall was below average for Tasmania.

“Maximum temperatures were warmer than average across the state and minimum temperatures were warmer across the North in August,” BOM senior climatologist Jonathan Pollock said.

“Looking back at winter overall, rainfall was below average for at least the Western half of the state and a bit closer to normal in the east.

“Maximum temperatures were warmer than average for winter right across the state and minimum temperatures were warmer than average for parts of Tasmania’s coastlines.”

Mr Pollock said BOM modelling for the chances of exceeding the median rainfall average in spring was mixed.

“When we have a look at the one-month forecast for September, there’s no strong push towards above or below average rainfall across Tasmania – maybe perhaps a slightly increased chance for parts of the East Coast.

“But then in October and November, there’s this broader area that has a slightly increased chance of exceeding rainfall stretching across the East and North East.

“There is also a slightly increased chance of below average rainfall for parts of the Central West.”

Angus Lyne from Riccarton at Campbell Town said the lack of rain over the winter resulted in water supply levels on the farm that were “pretty lower than we’d like them”.

“Lake Leake is pretty low at the moment and won’t have any available water supply at this stage for irrigation,” Mr Lyne said.

“Luckily, we have another source from the South Esk River.”

Mr Lyne said low rainfall so far this year had affected farming operations.

“We had a very tight autumn for feed, so I’ve had to do a lot more supplementary feeding than we would like.

“If we just had our average rainfall for the spring, that’d be nice.”

Tim Parsons and his wife Jane run Curringa Farm, an agritourism venture near Hamilton.

Between August 26 and September 1, Ouse Fire Station - the closest location to Curringa that records rain data - experienced falls of 12.4mm.

“We would have dearly loved more rain, but it was a very good get-out-of-jail card,” Mr Parsons said.

“It’s mild enough that the grass is trying to grow, and it's encouraging to see the blossom on the wattle trees and a few daffodils around.

“It’s a catch-22 now that we need the showers to keep materialising, but a few sunny days to push a bit of grass up.

“And hopefully the wind stays at bay over the next couple of weeks while we’ve got poppies establishing out of the ground.”

Along with onsite accommodation, Curringa Farm has around 3000 sheep grazing and onions grow on the property.

“We’ve had a very, very dry year to date and the ground moisture is receding rapidly,” Mr Parson said.

“On behalf of all farmers, we’ll take as much rain as we can get, but an honest inch of rain in the next couple of weeks to kick spring off will be very favourable.”