MALLEE farmers are rejoicing in better than anticipated rainfall after a cold front swept through the north-west of Victoria on Tuesday night.
Right along the Mallee track from Murrayville in the west to the Murray River there were widespread reports of rainfall in excess of 12mm.
Murrayville had 12mm, Tutye 13mm and Walpeup 12mm according to Bureau of Meteorology data.
Further north in the Millewa there was 9.6mm at Werrimull and 5.6mm at Mildura.
Dean Munro, whose main block is north-west of Ouyen, said there had been reasonably widespread reports in his area of falls up to 14mm.
Unusually the rain tailed off to the south.
"We've got a block at Speed and there was not as much there unfortunately."
He said the rain was desperately needed.
"The local golf course is a bit of a litmus test, it is fairly poor soil and unirrigated and prior to the rain the barley grass was going blue, so it was certainly dry enough," Mr Munro said.
"This rain will really boost our prospects."
Mr Munro said although it had been dry crops, especially cereals and field peas, did not look too bad.
"Things are late, but it does not look that bad considering the rain we've had."
He said the region would rely on a good spring as the break was late and there was no subsoil moisture, but said farmers remained in the hunt.
"We would ideally like to have seen the crops get growing a bit in the autumn as our springs can be patchy but this rain sets us up for a little bit."
The rain came as somewhat of a surprise, with the BOM only forecasting around 5mm.
There are expected to be further falls through much of Victoria during the week, with the heaviest rain forecast in the north-east and the south-west of the state.