The heavy rain slowed down, but didn’t stop Govett’s Tandara Brown Swiss auction sale from going ahead on Friday March 6.
Ben Govett said it was a big fall, but not enough to cause major problems and the rain was welcome, as it has been a dry summer on the plains.
The deluge on Monday, March 2, dropped about 70mm on the Dingee dairy farm, which followed about 60mm from the previous day.
The bureau of Meteorology recorded 97mm on March 2, at a nearby weather station in West Prairie, the largest single day rainfall event on record.
Cherie Freeman runs a cropping operation and told Country News that the rain is great news for their business.
Ms Freeman recorded 70mm of rain at a property in Corop, and 90mm at a property 16km north.
The Bureau’s closest weather station at Rochester recorded 89mm for the same two day weather window from March 2.
Ms Freeman said that the rain will finish off their summer maize crop nicely and help prepare the soil profile for the eventual sewing of the winter crops of canola, wheat, and barley.
Ms Freeman said that it had been a dry summer and that she hopes the break means a good autumn is on the way.
The Bureau reported rainfall of 118.8mm in Tongala over a two-day period from March 2, but local farmer David Parkinson told Country News they collected rain gauge values of up to 128mm.
These rainfall values would make this the wettest first few days of March since 2012, according to the Bureau’s records.
Locals report pooling and minor flooding across roads in the Tongala area, which didn’t begin receding until the morning of March 3.
The Nichol brothers operate several farms in the Echuca area, where they run both sheep and cropping operations.
Jason Nichol told Country News their rain gauges at their Bamawm Extension property collected values of 120mm, and a further 92mm at a nearby Echuca property.
“It’s not often that you get such a big downpour in such a short time,” Mr Nichol said.
The bureau reports that 98mm fell at its weather station in the Echuca area since Monday morning.
Tony Depasquale, an orchardist from the Kyabram area, told Country News that his rain gauges collected 70mm of rain on Monday, March 2.
Mr Depasquale said he hadn’t seen such condensed rain in a short period of time on his property for at least a couple of years.
Mr Depasquale said while the rain would slow down processes, it was good news for the region, which had been pushing through an extended dry period.
“That’s just farming mate,” he said.
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