Across the Riverina plains, an exceptional season is unfolding as pastures respond to the above average rainfall recorded through the winter, coming out of a very dry autumn.
Seasons like this don’t come all that often, but landholders with experience are accustomed to them.
Andrew Rutherford, “Milliwa”, Jerilderie, who manages the 22,250ha aggregation for the Jerilderie-based Mundoora Pastoral Co, has measured 425mm rainfall to date, with 375mm since May.
“We haven't had big falls, but the rain has been steady, and subsoil moisture is now full, as are the creeks and ground tanks,” Mr Rutherford said.
Impossible to stock this country in a season like this
- Andrew Rutherford
Running 7,000 Wanganella-blood Merino ewes in a self-replacing flock, Mr Rutherford said he treats his ewes with Clik as a matter of course at end of July lamb marking.
“Sometimes you think you are wasting money, but this year it will pay dividends if we get a fly-strike wave,” he said.
“It pays to be proactive in preparing for any trouble with a season like this.”
Mr Rutherford said his country is still too wet to contemplate putting any machinery over it, but as soon as it is dry enough, tracks will be opened for sheep to access water and get away from grass seed using a 10.5m slasher.
Barley grass is going to be the big problem, he said, but with the tracks it will allow the sheep, and especially the weaners to escape from them as much as is possible.
The wide slashed tracks will also reduce the chance of sheep, especially weaners from becoming lost in the extraordinary growth.
“We would normally be doing our firebreaks now, but will have to wait until it is dry enough,” he said.
“Obviously our program is delayed but it is not a bad position to be in with the pasture growth.”
Always conservatively stocked, Mr Rutherford said his stock priority is to keep the sheep out of grass seeds as much as possible, and his steers will be finished by the end of November.
“It is impossible to stock this country in a big season like this,” he said.
“With our native pastures, their is no better feed for finishing stock than Wimmera ryegrass when it starts to get the ‘tanny’ colour as it sets seed.”
Not often, but he has seen wet winters before
Andrew Rutherford, manager 22,250ha aggregation for the Mundoora Pastoral Co, Jerilderie, for the past 17 years said the last time he experienced a similar wet winter and big spring was in 1987.
Further to that, Mr Rutherford who came to the Riverina as a jackaroo for the Naroo Pastoral Company, on their Mungadal Merino stud, Hay, in 1973 remembers that year and 1974 as also having wet winters and good springs.
“Coming out of a very dry autumn, it is always amazing how well this country responds to good rain,” he said.
“In years like this we do try to maximise our returns and minimise our risks which include fire, flystrike and animal health.
“It really helps we are now getting top value for our sheep, which is giving us a chance to put money back into the property, but we also have to be conscious of preserving our Merino flock along with station infrastructure.”
Pictured above in a sward of pasture typical of that covering the property, Mr Rutherford said the paddock had been both flooded and burnt about five or six years ago.
“We thought we had lost all the seed, but the black oats, Wimmera ryegrass and trefoil is back thicker than ever,” he said.
With all creeks full to overflowing, and full profile of subsoil moisture, and the prediction of more rain through spring into summer, Mr Rutherford is hopeful he will have green feed for another three weeks, before pasture starts to ‘hay off’.
But he is not complacent about the unnaturally high chance of a major bushfire this summer.
“We don’t get seasons like this often, and while we do everything possible to reduce the risk, we have to be prepared for bushfires during the summer,” he said.