General News
6 June, 2025
Farmers look to the skies for rain
Wimmera farmer Tim Rethus believes the region may finally be turning a corner, with a widespread weather forecast for this weekend offering hope for a much-needed break in the dry spell.
After a season marked by record-low rainfall and growing concern across farming communities, weather projections for the next four days suggest that between 6 millimetres and 28 millimetres could fall from Friday, June 6, to Monday, June 9, across the region.
“I think it feels a bit like we’ve turned a corner,” Mr Rethus said.
“We’ve gone from that summer mode with hot northerly winds to these cold fronts, and it’s been quite Arctic the last week.”
Mr Rethus said the long-range forecasts had previously shown zero rain, but now, most days carry at least some rain potential.
He believes this weekend could be a game-changer.
“I think there’s pretty high hopes that this front is the one that’s actually going to deliver a significant rain,” he said.
“I hope that this weekend’s rain is going to kick off the season.
Horsham is expecting 5mm to 28mm rainfall, Warracknabeal is expecting 6mm to 24mm, Stawell is expecting 8mm to 34mm, and 6mm to 29mm for Nhill this weekend.
While some farmers are preparing to sow, others like Mr Rethus have already been forced to resow crops after patchy emergence.
“We just finished on Tuesday doing a little bit of resow work,” he said.
“We sowed some crops before Anzac Day and they came up unsatisfactorily.
“So we’ve reseeded some canola and a little bit of wheat.”
The delay is causing nerves among farmers who are now two weeks behind the typical mid-May sowing window. Mr Rethus said growers are eager to get crops established and incomes flowing.
“It’s making farmers very nervous because things are very expensive, as we’ve got to grow some crops and make some money,” he said.
While the forecast rain will help ease drought conditions, grazers may still face challenges with fodder production due to colder weather slowing pasture growth.
“I think this May could be the lowest we’ve ever had for rain,” he said.
“As the weather has got colder, it does slow things down.
“So plants don’t want to grow, just like I don’t want to go out.
“They’re going to be very tight on feed until springtime.”
Despite the harsh and tough conditions, Mr Rethus remains optimistic.
“This is not the first time it’s happened, and if you talk to the old timers, they’ll tell you it’s happened before,” he said.
“We’ve just got to make the best of what we’ve got, as the Wimmera farmers are the best in the world.”