Widespread soaking rain, unexpected but welcome

Rebecca Lamont, Hyde Park Station, 220 km south west of Charters Towers, said 158 mm up of rain had fallen up at her place until lunch time today (Thursday).

"We've not had substantial rain for two years... our main big house dam is dry, but there's a little bit of flow," she said.

Mrs Lamont said she was feeling great although the rain had meant they had to delay trucking four decks of fat cattle to Rockhampton this morning.

"But I'd rather be sitting back watching the rain than trucking cows," she said.

Steve Farmer, Mt Elsa, Canoona, said he had up to 112 mm in 30 hours of beautiful soaking rain.

"It's bloody beautiful," he said. "We had good rain at Easter, but it had certainly started to get a bit ordinary after a few frosts over the last few weeks," he said.

"Cattle were starting to get on the slide, but this has certainly sparked things up and will put things on the uphill run again."

Mr Farmer said he planted rye grass about three weeks ago and this rain would fire it away.

He said the rain would also help a crop of share farmed wheat which was up and out of the ground.

"This will really fill the moisture profile up now and save a bit of irrigation for a while," he said.

Bill Cragg, Mourindilla, Dingo, said he had 42 mm of rain by 11.30 am Thursday, which was unexpected, but very much appreciated.

He said they had only had just over 80 mm of rain since Boxing Day and while the cattle were still in good order, things were starting to get a bit serious.

Mr Cragg said they had a crop of oats in that was under irrigation, but irrigation was not as good as rain.

Across at Sorrell Hills, Duaringa, John Dunne said 50 mm had fallen at his place by midday today (Thursday) with the rain starting on Wednesday morning.

"It's real good, I'm really happy about it," he said.

Mr Dunne said he would wait until the sun came out to see how the moisture had fallen and what crops might be planted in the paddocks which were currently fallow.

"It was pretty dry before this," he said. "It's still raining lightly at the moment, another 50 mm would make me real happy," he said.

Matthew Hinz, Forest Home, Marlborough, said it was a proper wet day with 115 mm at 12.30 pm (Thursday) that would "put some life back in the grass after a couple of ripper frosts".

"We had 20 mm yesterday as of dark...and then it started at about 3 am this morning and it hasn't really stopped today, it's still going," he said.

Mr Hinz said he could not remember when he last had good rain, but recalled it was "an ordinary April...and a pretty ordinary March" and was getting dry.

"It's fantastic, I did not expect this...from what I could see on the (weather) radar it's coming in from the north."

Mr Hinz said everyone whinges they miss out on the rain, but this time he was happy to say he was right in the firing line.

After receiving 115 mm, Tamara Finger, TF2 Grazing Co, Middlemount, said the rain event had been nice and steady, supplying a good run into dams and creeks for a top up that was appreciated at this time.

"Hopefully, if we have some warmer days ahead, the pastures will be rejuvenated for a little longer reducing feed purchases through winter which is a welcome relief with reduced cattle prices at the moment," she said.

Wendy Perry, Fletcher's Awl, 69 km north west of Clermont, said there had been some beautiful rain up their way, with the last lot of rain of 14 mm in March, 89 mm in February, and 117 mm in January.

She said most of their rain came in on Wednesday night and up until 7 am this morning (Thursday), there was 101 mm in the gauge and it was still showering. At 4.30pm, the total was 110 mm.

"Gullies are still running and dams have been topped up - it's just like Christmas," she said.

"This rain is fantastic, even though it will wreck our forage crop which was a bit aged and we've still got cattle on it...it will certainly keep the roots alive and it will set us up for a really good spring, no-one ever knocks rain at this time of the year."

Mrs Perry said the amount of rain was definitely unseasonal and seemed to be pretty widespread in the Central Highlands.

"It should be beneficial to everybody. I know a lot of the grain farmers are rejoicing, particularly those who have already harvested their sorghum, they're happy - and then a lot of people have put in their winter crops, their wheat and their chickpeas, so that's certainly going to help them as well," she said.

Mrs Perry said they had another property at Telemon, north of Banana, and it had received 30 mm at 4.30pm today (Thursday).

Mike McCosker of Marathon Wagyu, Emerald, who also grows cotton, said they had 40 mm of rain on Wednesday night.

He said the rain was good for winter crop opportunities, but it was a bit of a problem for their cotton crop which had not been picked yet.

"But, we love the rain when it comes to grow a bit of grass," he said.

David Kemp, Lotus Park Feedlot, Lotus Creek, said they ended up with about 100 mm at their property in the Barmount area, and about 75 mm at Lotus Park after the rain started on Tuesday night.

"It's good rain as it will keep us going through the winter - it will also be good on the crops, the wheat and chickpeas, about 1000 acres of each," he said.

Mr Kemp said the crops would have been "very ordinary" without this rain.

Up north, Richmond Shire mayor John Wharton said there had been 40 mm on some properties, north east of Richmond, and there had been good rain south of Charters Towers of between 60 and 70 mm.

He said north west of Hughenden there had been 40 mm.

Due to rain, the Nebo Slouch Hat four-day campdraft scheduled for this weekend has been postponed o July 11-14.

With rain still falling, some roads are also starting to be impacted by flooding.