Singing in the rain

Puddle jumping was the perfect way to celebrate light showers which fell at Evie Nicolaou’s family farm near Manjimup.

The three-year-old lives on an avocado and cattle farm run by her parents Jamie Nicolaou and Tegan Studsor, and grandparents George and Kathy Nicolaou.

Sporadic showers have left behind 8mm at the family property during the past two weeks, with the most falling during a 3.6mm shower on June 20.

While it had been a dry start to the season, Mr Nicolaou said the recent rainfall would provide a boost.

“We had 3mm two weeks ago; we ended up getting 5mm over two days,” he said. “There has been a lot of heavy dew here and that makes a difference.”

The family grows about 30ha of hay and silage, runs 80 head of cattle, and also has 6.5ha of avocados at their main property.

Mr Nicolaou said having their own feed stocks, instead of buying it in, had helped to reduce costs during the dry year.

“Like all farmers, we are the eternal optimists, but I think it is just one of those years where everyone is talking about the lack of rain,” he said.

“I think we know because we are close to the coast that even on the dry years, we do generally get some rainfall.”