Breeza flooding: steady rain joy for farmers

Farmer John Hamparsum said 140mm had fallen at Drayton in the last week, bringing the total for the year up to over 200mm, which is "30mm off what we had for the entire year last year".

A floodway on Bulunbulun Road is awash and a dirt road off that same road is closed because the Mooki River is flowing across it and under the Maitland Street bridge.

Mr Hamparsum said the Mooki River, which runs through his property, is the most full he has seen it in about four years but there wasn't much rain in the Mooki catchment.

"It's fantastic rain. It's too late to plant any summer crops but the little bit of crop we did have in it will keep it going," he said.

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The second generation farmer said the rain had "saved" the small area of semi-irrigated cotton and "set us up very well for a winter crop now".

"It's probably the first winter crop we'll plant for two years and it's four years since we got a decent crop," he said.

Last year's 84-hectare dryland wheat crop was planted "on a bit of a wing and a prayer" but when the forecast rains didn't come, it suffered and in the end, yielded only 40 tonnes compared to 400 tonnes "in a good year".

"It was 10 per cent of what you'd get in a good year. It didn't even cover the fuel," Mr Hamparsum said.

If the rain keeps up, he might plant canola, barley or wheat when the winter window opens.

"It's been a long time since we've had this sort of weather. You can make money out of mud, you can't make money out of dust," he said.

Producers are already grazing cattle on the plains to take advantage of the green pick.

A bit up the road in the small town of Werris Creek, roads have been flooded most of the last fortnight and the force of water flowing in Werries Creek has washed out the town's water pipe, taken out fences, guard rails, and deposited mountains of mud and debris.

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