Riverina Local Land Services

• Conditions improve in the west of the region; drying trend continues in the east.
• The Combined Drought Indicator (CDI) shows approximately 35%of the region is in the Non-Drought category at the end of May.
• There has been a continued expansion of the Drought Affected category in the east of the region since the last Update.
• Cropping programs are mixed, depending on location within the region and May rainfall totals.
• There are reports of good germination from early sowing through to continuing to dry sow on forecasted rain events.
• Winter supplementary feeding programs have commenced for livestock breeding enterprises as available feed reserves are low.
• Producers continue to monitor forecasts closely and implement management strategies as required for their enterprises.
• The NSW DPI continues to closely monitor conditions in this region.

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Normalised Difference Vegetation Index

Plant greenness levels are highly variable across the region.

• There has been a decline in the plant greenness values since the last Update, particularly in the west of the region.  Plant greenness levels continue to decline in the north and east of the region.
• Rainfall has been average, to very much below average for May.
  Areas with below average levels of greenness indicate low levels of ground cover and standing dry matter available for livestock or paddocks recently sown.
• Some of the extremely negative NDVI areas (brown patches) are water bodies.

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Individual Drought Indicators

Drought indicators continue to decline at locations in the central and east of the region.

• The indicators at some locations continue to decline due to the continuing effects of rainfall deficits.
• Timely and effective follow up rainfall will be needed over the coming months to maintain productivity, particularly in the east of the region.

To access a Drought History chart for your Parish, visit the Seasonal Conditions Information Portal.