The furrowed brows of farmers continue to search the sky rain, but the season is on track for the driest May on record.

Since last August most of the region’s farming land has experienced less than 10 per cent of normal rainfall since 1900, and less than five per cent in some areas.

“Farmers have stopped spending and are staying home,” said Livestock SA director Richard Kirkland.

“Farmers are not cashed up so they don’t go and renew vehicles or motorbikes. They don’t (buy seed) to sew extra paddocks for pasture, they don’t put more fertiliser on.

“They just keep out of the towns and keep doing their jobs on the farm.”

The daily workload has exploded to include hand feeding livestock day after day, and the dry seeding of crops.

But the hard dry ground was causing continuous machinery breakdowns for many.

“I’m just in the workshop now, fixing a roller,” Mr Kirkland said.

Mr Kirkland runs his own family farm at Furner south of Lucindale with a mix of enterprises including sheep, cattle and crops.

He reflected on other dry years – in 1990 there was no seasonal break until June 27, 1996 it was June 4 and 2005 it was June 8.

“The problem is when it does come, the ground is so cold so nothing really grows,” he said.

“I’m getting phone calls nearly every day from younger farmers in the area just asking questions about how do we deal with this dry time.

“I explain to them it is going to get pretty bad. There will probably be livestock losses you just cannot control.

“You can do the best you can and still have the odd dead sheep and a few lambs die.

“Especially when you’re lambing (or calving) when it’s so dry.”

Before deadline for press last Friday, Bureau of Meteorology climatologist Jonathan Pollock explained across the district less that 5mm of rain was forecast up until this Friday, May 24.

It was expected to remain dry across the State until at least May 27.

“The outlook for 21 to 27 May shows low chances of above median rainfall across SA,” Mr Pollock said.

“The 2024 autumn break hasn’t reached the South East yet, using the Bureau’s criteria of either the first three day accumulated rainfall greater than 25 mm, or the first seven days accumulated rainfall greater than 30 mm.

“The rainfall outlook for June is neutral for much of the South East, with no strong push towards above or below average rainfall.

“Including the forecast up to 22 May (today), most of the Upper South East and Lower South East are tracking driest on record for May.”

But it was still too early “to say definitively where May 2024 will rank”.

Mr Pollock explained the dominant weather pattern affecting the district and southern Australia in April and so far this month was persistent high pressure systems in the Great Australian Bight.

“This has kept conditions fine and dry and prevented rain bearing systems reaching southern Australia,” he said.

“Similar to the June rainfall outlook, the July rainfall outlook is neutral for much of the South East, with no strong push towards above or below average rainfall.

“Much of the South East has serious to severe rainfall deficiencies for the nine months commencing August 2023.”

That is the lowest 10 per cent or 5 per cent respectively, since 1900.

“Rainfall deficiency is a measure of meteorological drought, which affects the water available for use,” he said.

He said the bureau’s drought statement was updated each month and identified areas of ongoing serious or severe rainfall deficiencies.

Mr Kirkland said a lot of younger farmers had not gone through tough times before and often had high debt loads.

He urged them to keep talking to neighbours and older farmers because “we will get through it”.

“I think this quote is pretty good: Agriculture is a long game and needs to be played as such.

“There’s any number of variables that can stuff you up at any one time.

“But overall, it’s quite a rewarding experience, both psychologically and financially.”

This article appeared in the Naracoorte Community News.