For livestock producers there was a mood of optimism during Monday’s wet cattle sale at the Wagga Livestock Marketing Centre (WLMC).

And for others the summer rain was simply an added burden in controlling weeds before the upcoming sowing of the winter crop.

Wagga received 74mm, Grong Grong 54mm, and Cootamundra 52mm.

Benerembah farmer, Peter Flanagan, “Cuba Trees”, is growing cotton for the first time this season and said the 25mm that fell was beneficial.

And despite the weed burden in some parts of the dryland cropping areas he said this was not as prevalent on the irrigation country.

He said it was the first major rain to fall on the fallows, and pre-season wheat-growing country.

Wagga Bureau of Meteorology technical officer Bruce Copplestone said Sunday night’s downpour was the third highest daily average for the month of January on record.

This rain led to a pretty wet cattle sale on Monday and according to the National Livestock Reporting Service (NLRS) the numbers were down and prices across all categories increased.