North-west of Hopetoun, cropper Wayne Huf, said his crops – wheat, barley, export oaten hay, lentils, field peas and vetch – were going along nicely.

“We were getting towards the dry side, now it’s flying along, it’s beautiful,” he said.

“We had what could be said as probably the best break you could hope for and two great rains during our sowing programme which gave us a full profile of moisture.

He said he farmed 3300 hectares, including sheep in the mix, and the property had gone six weeks without substantial rainfall.

“But over the last but over the past 10 days or so, we have managed to accumulate roughly 12mm to 15mm in small amounts.

“I am quite confident still of achieving an average year yield wise, and together with the much stronger grain prices, look forward to having a successful season.”

Birchip cropper David Ferrier said his property had recieved between 12mm to 15mm of rain, in showers, in the past week.

“It’s keeping it nice and damp on top, which is good,” he said.

“We had good rainfall, at sowing, so our crops are tracking along, quite nicely, at the moment.”

He said he was growing wheat, barley, canola, lentils, chick peas and field peas, as well as running 1200 ewes, on 5000 hectares.

”We had a very dry June, one of the driest we have seen, so it’s a welcome relief to see some sort of rain coming through in July – it puts a bit of confidence back in the season,” he said.

“We still need more rain to get us through the rest of the season, but we are in a pretty good position.”

Lawloit cropper and prime lamb producer John Bennett said the dry June helped the crops get away nicely.

“We had one of our wettest Mays on record and our second driest June, but we have had between 50mm to 60mm for this month, which is amazing,” he said.

“I am very conscious of fact so many areas aren’t good, especially South Australia and Western Australia, but it’s on track a bit again and I am  conservatively optimistic.”