MOST livestock producers are treating the rain which drenched southeast Australia over the weekend as inconvenient but manageable.
It seems few stock have been caught up in flood waters, with producers able to move animals before the water hit.
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Stock are on higher ground, and prices are expected to follow as processors compete on rain-reduced yardings.
And the store market is expected to bounce, too, as a good spring is now assured in much of Victoria.
Corcoran Parker principal Trevor Parker said numbers at Wodonga's prime markets this week would be back 10-20 per cent as logistics meant the stock could simply not make the yards.
And he predicted the store cattle markets would gain strength on the back of the rain.
"These rains have consolidated what was already a good start and we will now have a wonderful spring," Mr Parker said.
He said there would now be even more interest in buying cattle to top-up understocked properties.
"Every agent would have a pocket full of orders for store cattle but the trouble is, we need to find them," he said.
They won't be able to get them at the Hay, NSW, cattle sale, scheduled for today, which was cancelled due to the good rain across the Riverina.
The Keri Keri Merino sale at Moulamein was also a casualty and has been rescheduled for this Friday.
The rain took about 20 per cent from the offering at Pakenham on Monday and the National Livestock Reporting Service believed the 5c/kg price rise across the board was mainly due to processors trying to prepare for rain-depleted yardings in the coming week.
Meanwhile, dairy farmers will have short-term pain but long-term gain after the weekend downpour.
Murray Goulburn Kiewa field officer Murray Wisewould said dairy farmers had faced conditions like this before.
"It's been a few years but they can remember it," he said.
"The impacts on farm will be if pastures have been left with sand or soil on them."
There were also potential production losses from cows being milked at odd times and not being able to graze properly.
Mastitis could also be an issue down the track.
But despite all this, Mr Wisewould said dairy farmers would be happy to see full dams and wet paddocks.
"All we need is 10 days of sunny weather and we can expect a massive growth of grass," he said.
