140mm of rain for the year then 116mm in a night puts ‘smiles on dials’ of farmers doing it tough

Thunderstorms this week have brought welcome relief for farmers in some of the most drought-affected parts of New South Wales.

More than 70 per cent of the state is in drought, according to the Department of Primary Industries.

James Goldsmith is a mixed farmer with sheep, cattle and crops on his property 50 kilometres north of Coonamble.

He said it was a remarkable turnaround from what had been an incredibly dry season after his property received more than 116mm on Thursday night.

“It means a hell of a lot. We had dams going dry, stock getting bogged [in empty dams], all sorts of things like that,” he said.

“Now the dams have nearly filled up overnight and there’s water running out of the paddocks everywhere.

“This has certainly put the smiles on the dial of a lot of people.”

Mr Goldsmith said this drought was comparable to some of the worst he had seen. 

“It was 140mm [of rain] for the year up until now and the 116 overnight has nearly doubled it,” he said.

“It’s been a very tight, tough year, probably one of the worst as far as seasons go.”

The average annual rainfall for Coonamble is 520mm. 

‘Blew us away’

In north-west New South Wales, grain growers west of Moree also have plenty to celebrate.

There have been reports of rainfall in the triple figures, including 130 millimetres or more for areas such as Boomi, where Archie Wilson manages a cropping operation.

Before this week, the last decent rain Mr Wilson saw was in October last year when the district flooded.

He said for those under the big falls it had turned the season around.

“It was pretty amazing to wake up and look at the gauge. It blew us away. It’s been a while between drinks,” he said.

“The last 12 months we’ve only had about 150 millimetres of rainfall, so we have been very dry.”

In Grafton, Peter Lake had to sell off some of his cattle as the Department of Primary Industries placed the region into the category of intense drought.

“We just didn’t have the feed, so we had to buy hay and it reached the point where it was no longer viable,” Mr Lake said. 

“This rain has given us the hope that we will be able to hang on to some of these cattle and actually put a bit of weight on them.” 

Mr Lake said the rain had set him up for a positive summer despite the potential dry conditions. 

“It makes everything look better and brighter,” he said.

“Now it is looking like the next time we sell cattle it is because they are ready for market.”

Disappointment in central-west

While falls of more than 50mm were recorded in Bathurst and Orange, large parts of the state’s central-west missed out on the rain.

In Canowindra, Doug Grant has been hand-feeding his cattle for weeks while his hay crop is failing.

“The pasture is very dry at the moment,” Mr Grant said.

“The lucerne is not growing that well so a bit more rain would be great, but we will have to wait and see if it comes.”

Last year, Mr Grant lost almost all of his crops due to flooding, costing him millions of dollars to get his farm up and running again.

“It has cost us a lot of money to put it [lucerne] back in so we are really not making that much cash at the moment,” he said.

“We have had to borrow money to put it all back in.”

After missing out on the latest falls, Mr Grant is hopeful that a rain band expected to hit the region next week will bring much-needed relief.

“It is very disappointing but that’s how it is,” he said.

“Other people are getting it … we might have some next week so that is how it goes.”