Australia - Dairy Farmers Face Worst Spring Ever After 4th-Driest Winter

VICTORIAN dairy farmers are facing the worst spring on record after the state's fourth-driest winter ever.
Flows into the Murray River are at record lows, with its Hume Dam, which shares its water between Victoria and NSW, set to record its lowest-ever peak by a large margin. Farmers along the Goulburn River in northern Victoria will receive just 7 per cent of their water allocations, while those on the Campaspe and Loddon rivers face zero allocations.

Richard Anderson farms at Bamawm Extension, west of Echuca in northern Victoria. He has never seen worse. "We still have another six weeks' window of opportunity for spring rains, but as every day goes past and the catchment gets drier, it takes a hell of a lot more rain to make a difference," he said. Recent rains have given the country a green tinge, but the reality is crops are failing, dams are low and there is little feed. "It is a green desert - a lot of green grass, but it is just not growing," Mr Anderson said.

He described his crops as a wipeout. "We will be de-stocking some cattle. People are starting to make those decisions now as it gets drier."

Grant Beard, from the Bureau of Meteorology, said the spring outlook showed "increased chances of being drier than average". Mr Beard said Victoria had had "10 years of droughts interspersed with fair-to-middling rains. There hasn't been a wet year ... since 1996."

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http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20310552-30417,00.html