As graziers across the region continue to battle drought conditions a lucky few about 20km west of Guyra and towards Tingha managed to get underneath a few clouds.
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Jan and Barry Clark, Keston Park Poll Herefords at Wandsworth have recorded close to 30mm for June.
At the start of the month they had about 22mm of rain “out of nowhere”, add to that another couple of showers, and their total is looking up.
“The rain was absolutely gorgeous,” Mrs Clark told the Country Leader. “We’ve got no feed and we’ve been feeding the cattle cotton seed, silage and hay.
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“Some dams have been holding and we have a bore that’s only down 40 feet and it’s been bubbling up.”
Mrs Clark said the rain really seemed to soak in, falling gently enough to stay on the paddock and not run off.
She said a number of landowners have mentioned springs opening up, particularly around the Old Tenterden Road area.
That’s also been the case west of Uralla at Yarrowyck, where Neil Shanahan said springs have put water into the Booralong Creek and start of the Gwydir River.
“It’s really helped with the stock water,” he said. “We were thinking about digging some holes in the sand to find water.”
Mr Shanahan estimated the creek and river had been dry for months.
“Water started running about three weeks ago in the Booralong and water is flowing down the Gwydir now too,” he said.
“It’s been moving reasonably slowly, filling holes as it goes. It’s travelled about 1km in a week.”
Mr Shanahan said the water was crystal clear, unlike run-off from rain.
Bureau of Meteorology showed June totals up to the 14th of: Armidale 6.8mm; Dorrigo 55.2mm; Glen Innes 7mm; Guyra 15.6mm; Inverell 2.6mm; Tenterfield 4.4mm; and Woolbrook 4mm.