WINTER in the Wimmera has seen the region receive intermittent storms and rainfall, with farmers saying conditions are exciting, albeit patchy.
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The recent rain comes as anxiety grows around dry conditions throughout April and May, leading many to begin sowing later than 2020's season.
Horsham farmer Tim Rethus said June's rainfall was a pleasant surprise, and hoped favourable conditions prevailed through the later months to recoup this season's poor start.
"It was quite big, it came in storms so generally there was probably 10mm around Horsham, but areas have got up to 30mm in isolated sports - so it has been really patchy," he said.
"I think farmers have to be wary when they do their drive around. They might find one side of the paddock is quite wet and the other side has no puddles at all.
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"It is going to make it interesting towards the later end of the year if one part of the paddock gets another 20mm, you might know why."
Mr Rethus said the staggered rainfall seen through June and July could lead to uneven crop growth, complicating harvest.
"We can take a little bit of moisture at the moment, but we are probably looking forward to some nice sunny days to get a bit of growth," he said.
"Compared to last year when everything was quite big and we could just keep piling on the rain and it wasn't going to hurt it - when the plants are really small they don't want to be inundated too much.
"It is probably six weeks behind on some paddocks compared to where we were last year. That is a fair difference in size and we are seeing that because some of our oats and canola coming up early are humongous, which is how the whole field would have been last year.
"There will be a bit of a sweet spot in there I think, and people might have to choose the greater evil - going in too early or going a bit later. If it is a soft finish all of the late stuff might be unbelievable, and then you would say that's fine go for the optimum time for the late stuff."
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