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Written by STEVE KELLY.
FOR evidence the drought is still apparent, you need not look any further than September rainfall totals, which were the third driest the Mansfield district has experienced since records began in 1883.
Mansfield district had a meagre 17mm fall last month, again putting a vice on farmers’ budgets ahead of the dry summer months.
Not since 1944, when 14mm of rain fell, has the district experienced such little rainfall in the first month of spring.
Local farmer Rod Manning said the probability of enough rain to grow pasture in the spring was low.
"We’re coming to the critical point and if we don’t get an inch of rain on average every week, feed production will not occur," he said.
"The hills are starting to show the effects of the dry and we’re at that critical knife edge point where feed is under moisture stress.
"Unless it gets a big drink, we’ll have an ordinary time when it gets to the end of spring, with no carry over feed to get us through the summer and autumn."
However, Mr Manning said this trend was reflecting weather patterns of last year when late rain came in October and November.
"We can still get good rain here and end up with quite a good spring, but it will have to come while grass is in its vegetative stage, not its reproductive stage," he said.
"Once it starts to reproduce, it doesn’t matter how much rain you get.
"We’ve still got a little bit of time, but it has to happen very shortly."
September rainfalls at Lake Eildon were just 33 per cent of normal totals with 27mm falling.
Mt Buller also had 49 per cent of its normal September rainfall with 77mm, compared to its normal amount of 158mm.
The mean temperature last month was 18.5 degrees Celsius, 2.1 degrees above normal.
The highest temperature was 27.6 degrees on AFL grand final day and the lowest was -1.6 degrees on September 9.
At Mt Buller, the highest temperature was 14.3 degrees - also on grand final day - and its lowest was -6 degrees on September 17.
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