WELL, the inevitable happened: winter has struck with a vengeance.
The balmy autumn conditions we've had over the past couple of months just couldn't last and, for the first time this year, saleyards are awash and the standard attire of rubber boots, Driza-Bone coats and beanies have been dragged out of their summer slumber and dusted off for duty.
It's funny how the ideas for this page come about sometimes.
This week's offering started when I recounted a story of a certain Millicent grazier who tackled me a couple of months ago at their sale.
He bowled up to me and asked whether I lived in the north, I confessed that I did and he enquired if I was anywhere near Quorn.
I explained that I lived about 60 kilometres away.
I started to get a bit curious about where this conversation was leading, but it didn't take long to find out.
Having had his suspicions about my home territory confirmed, the grazier started a heated tirade about the unfairness of life, he harangued me about Quorn receiving 50 millimetres of rain the previous evening, saying that Millicent was bone dry.
He was quite agitated and I probably didn't help matters by suggesting that Quorn farmers probably needed the rain more than their southern compatriots.
This anecdote prompted a bit of discussion over a cup of coffee at Dublin and there was a surprising amount of sympathy for farmers in some areas who simply missed out on any substantial rainfall because of the vagaries of weather patterns,
The inconsistencies in the rainfall patterns vexed Dublin saleyards manager Andrew Lepley, who decided to compile some rainfall data.
Cumulative rainfall totals for 2014 aren't hard to find, thanks to the internet and this year's to date throws up some interesting facts that, taken at face value, would change a lot of people's mind about where the wet country really is in SA.
It will come as no surprise to anybody that Mount Gambier is up near the top of the list with 317mm, however it only runs third in the rainfall stakes of 2014.
Clare is a consistent performer and is winning the race with 382mm. One of the roughies, flying into second place at long odds, is Eudunda - a staggering 335mm.
There are some of the fancied runners that should be shunted off to the swabbing stalls: Coonawarra, 188mm; Naracoorte, 172mm; Padthaway, 130mm; and Keith, 124mm.
These figures are a long way behind their recent form and some of the state's most reliable country has so far simply missed out.
* Full report in Stock Journal, June 26, 2014 issue.
