Wheatbelt farmers had their hopes dashed at the weekend when rainfall failed to hit double digits

Wheatbelt farmers had their hopes dashed at the weekend when rainfall failed to hit double digits, while parts of the South West and south coast have had their prayers answered.

Denmark recorded 43.6mm between May 23 and May 25, while Manjimup received 39.6mm.

The cloud band travelled south-east at the weekend, with Perth metropolitan receiving the bulk of the downpour with 48.6mm, flowing through to Esperance who received 18.4mm.

The Wheatbelt missed out on the wet weather, with a maximum of 8mm falling in Corrigin.

Williams sheep and grain farmer Andrew Rintoul said while he did receive a couple of millimetres more than anticipated at the weekend, it was not enough.

Despite this, he said he remains optimistic.

“We got a total of 5.5mm at the weekend . . . hopefully the rainfall will be better this weekend,” he said.

“If you’re not optimistic it makes the game hard.

“The sheep are in good condition, lambs are dropping, things are happening, so we’re feeling positive but we are going to need rain to get things going, fill dams.”

Manjimup-based Mark Muir, of Mordallup Angus stud, received 15mm in the rain gauge from the recent three-day system.

“We had 34mm in March and 76mm in April, so were sitting pretty good, but paddock grass to feed our 1000 head Angus herd is still a bit short,” he said.

“Not complaining though as other parts of the State’s agricultural regions are in desperate need of a good general rain drenching, I guess our area has been on the right side of the rain cloud.”

Mr Muir said another weather system was approaching Manjimup for the weekend.

“If we could get 30mm, we could loosen out dependence on extra feed-out hay costs.”

Looking forward, the Bureau of Meteorology’s rainfall outlook is forecasting rainfall in the month of June to be below average for parts of the South West, with warmer than average days and nights expected.

The central Wheatbelt is expecting a high chance of showers over the weekend and double digits on Monday June 2.

Other areas of the State expect a dose of rainfall come early June also, with the South West set to receive another heavy dose, and Great Southern and Mid West expected to see double digits this weekend.

Manjimup is forecasted to receive more than 20mm, Esperance is expected to again hit double digits and Binnu is looking to finally receive its share with more than 15mm by June 2.

MID WEST

Binnu — 1.6mm

Canna East — 0.6mm

Eradu — 3.8mm

Mingenew — 5.8mm

Morawa — 0.4mm

Yuna — 2.4mm

WHEATBELT

Corrigin — 8mm

Hyden — 7mm

Meckering — 0.6mm

New Norcia — 4.2mm

Pingelly — 2.2mm

Quairading — 4.6mm

Wongan Hills — 2.6mm

GREAT SOUTHERN

Denmark — 43.6mm

Marradong — 8.8mm

Lake King — 4.8mm

Newdegate — 3.8mm

Nyabing — 1.4mm

Pingrup — 2.6mm

Williams — 4.2mm

SOUTH WEST

Cordering — 6.2mm

Dardanup — 4mm

Harvey — 15.6mm

Manjimup — 39.6mm

Margaret River — 24.4mm

Vasse — 7.8mm

Yanmah — 27.8mm

ESPERANCE

Esperance — 18.4mm

Mt Howick — 16.6mm

Munglinup — 24.2mm

Salmon Gums — 0.6mm