SA rain lifts confidence ahead of seeding

Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Vince Rowlands said there were two distinct fronts moving across SA that led to the rainfall.

Mid to late last week, a trough moving across the North West Pastoral zone bought falls of up to 90 millimetres - with the highest tally recorded at Kalamurina, north of Lake Eyre.

Mr Rowlands said they had forecast for up to 50mm, so it was slightly unexpected.

Oodnadatta recorded 53.8mm across two days, while Coober Pedy received 51mm.

Mr Rowlands said some areas in the north of the state had exceeded their April average in that one rain event.

Then, across the weekend, another trough moved across the southern half of SA.

Totals were lower on the Eyre Peninsula - "the nature of the showers", Mr Rowlands said, with 15mm at Port Lincoln, while Heggaton, near Cleve, received 13mm.

Mr Rowlands said the biggest fall in the agricultural areas was at Georgetown with 48.6mm, while most areas received about 20mm.

He said there was another weak front forecast this weekend in southern areas, but it was likely to only result in up to 5mm.

He said these rain events were the usual patterns for this time of year, with the climate driver neutral.

"It's good to see a return to some of these frontal movements," he said.

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Kerin Landmark Rural advanced farm services agronomist Steve Richmond, Jamestown, said the rain was good news, especially with many across the district busy sowing feed for livestock and making preparations for other cropping later this month.

For most of his district, falls of 30-35mm were recorded.

He said most people would have been sowing their feed regardless of the rain, but these falls would allow the feed to germinate more quickly.

"It has made it more positive," he said. "The sooner we get sheep feed, the less people have to feed out."

He said the start of the season looked like a return to more conventional years after two dry ones, providing more confidence for the 2020 growing season.

At Hornsdale in the Mid North, Bill Stacey encountered a dust storm while sowing a cereal mix for sheep feed.

He said the front came through just after "knock-off" time on Friday, bringing 13mm for the weekend.

Further south, Platinum Ag Murray Bridge agronomist Steve Hein said the results had been mixed, with some receiving good totals and others not so much.

"For farmers where it has fallen, they will definitely transition into sowing livestock feed, with groups upping their paddock feeding to get stock used to the green feed emerging," he said.

Those who had falls of less than 5mm may be holding off sowing for now, he said.

Mr Hein said the rain was still too early to influence regular cropping rotations, but had bought optimism to the area.