Geelong and North Melbourne are gone, as are several areas in our State.
Feed resources in many areas are shot, crop returns are likely to be very sparse despite the high prices on offer, and sheep and lamb prices have fallen sharply just to add to the general woes of farmers in the affected regions.
There are many areas, including the Mallee, West Coast, Yorke Peninsula and Mid North where the season is in the balance.
A great many people will be hanging on the results of the knockout finals between the Crows and Fremantle, and Collingwood and West Coast.
Many people will be disappointed if the Crows tumble out of premiership contention. And there is a fair analogy between the fortunes of the Adelaide Football Club and the fate of farmers throughout greater South Australia.
South easterners are unsurprisingly - like the Sydney Swans and Hawthorn - in the box seat.
Their season has been set up nicely, but there is still a bit of work to do. Unlike the north, the South East is looking for some warmth and sunshine to foster pasture growth.
The number of ultra-lightweight, new-season lambs yarded at Dublin on Tuesday is evidence that there is little feed in a great many areas.
It is true that many crossbred lamb breeders have quite rightly been selling lambs at lighter weights in an effort to beat the real flush of numbers due when later areas throughout southern Australia come on stream.
This tactic appears to have worked reasonably well on several fronts - lightweight and light tradeweight lambs have been keenly sought by trade buyers and have hovered around $4 a kilogram carcaseweight to $4.50/kgcw.
Returns of about $100 a head for lambs are not bad considering the very small amount of work put into them.
Perhaps the best result from early selling has been the relief from feeding pressure on rapidly deteriorating feed reserves.
Several large drafts of lightweight crossbreds and Merinos from the Upper North and lower pastoral areas were offered on Tuesday, and showed worrying signs of dryness and seed contamination.
Source: farmonline.com.au
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