FARMERS across the state are rejoicing this week, after widespread seasoning opening rains fell on nearly all regions.
While some areas have received intermittent rain to start the season, the latest falls were much needed for the Mid and Upper North, which have been subject to a lingering dry spell.
With many croppers either finished - or very close to finishing - seeding, the weather front came at an important time to aid germination.
Evan and Charmain Kakoschke, who farm with children Chloe and Hugo at Sandilands on the Yorke Peninsula, had a little more than 50 millimetres from Sunday through Tuesday.
The Kakoschkes, who grow wheat, barley, lentils and pasture hay for sheep, finished seeding on Friday and had only had 7.5mm in May until the recent system.
"We had some good summer rain and that gives you confidence knowing there's moisture down deep, but you need moisture at this time of year for it to link up and allow the top to get wet and crops to germinate and grow," Mr Kakoschke said.
"I'm reasonably confident about the year ahead, mainly due to the summer rain we had. If we can have an average winter, I feel like we'll end up with average or better crops.
"It'd be terrific to reap some average crops given current pricing."
Mrs Kakoschke, who originally hails from Loxton, said it was great to see the Riverland have good falls.
"We're in a reliable area here, so for people in less reliable areas like the Riverland it has been good to see them have a good start."
While the rainfall event filled dams on Kangaroo Island, it also caused damage to some recently sown paddocks.
Kevin Freebairn, who runs crossbred sheep and Angus cattle at Menzies, said he received 42mm between Sunday afternoon and Monday morning.
He said they had only just finished seeding for feed prior to the downpour.
"There's a lot of washouts, especially on the ground that I've worked up," he said.
"We've had more runoff into our dams from last night than we did all of last year, which is a positive.
"It's basically filled three dams and a couple of those were dry this year for the first time."
Mr Freebairn said he would be able to see the full scale of washouts when paddocks dried, but was happy nonetheless.
"We certainly needed it (the rain)," he said.
"It will get feed kicking along."
Kimba region cropper Dion Woolford said he couldn't remember a year that was "better set up" than this after two massive summer rains and a good Anzac Day rain.
They have received 252mm for the year and with seeding finished a fortnight ago, all crops were up and there was "a lot of positivity about".
"We've got subsoil (moisture), we have got a start, crops are up, it's fantastic," he said.
Grain Producers SA chief executive officer Brad Perry said this was the break in the season many had been waiting for.
"With a majority of seeding completed, Sunday and Monday's rainfall events were ideally timed to provide much needed soil moisture and reserves," he said.
"In some areas, grain producers have received their highest monthly rainfall in 30 years and in other cropping regions, this rainfall event is the single largest in six years."
Mr Perry said that many growers would have completed their seeding programs, but there were still some waiting for the break to get started.
He believed the break would give growers the necessary confidence, but high input costs were still a concern.
The rainfall event could be a sign of things to come, with the Bureau of Meteorology predicting winter rainfall in eastern and central regions of Australia is more than 80 per cent likely to exceed the median.
WEEKLY SA RAINFALL - BOM (until 9am Wednesday)
Eyre Peninsula - Streaky Bay 51mm; Far North - Blinman 51mm; North East Pastoral - Yunta 16mm; Upper North - Wirrabara 52mm; Mid/Lower North - Mintaro 69mm; Yorke Peninsula - Maitland 67mm; Barossa - Truro 81mm; Adelaide Hills - Ashton 136mm; Kangaroo Island - Cape Borda 44mm; Riverland - Loxton 36mm; Murraylands - Sedan 38mm; Mallee - Paruna 47mm; Upper South East - Keith 36mm; Lower South East - Mount Gambier 48mm.
