Andrew Powell, of Corriemungle, said last winter’s below average rainfall led some group members to warn of a water shortage this year and encourage other members to carefully manage their water supplies last year.

Speaking after the group celebrated its 50^th anniversary at a reunion dinner on Saturday night, Mr Powell said the group encouraged members to take pro-active steps such as transferring water between dams to create opportunities for dams to fill up again before the shortage hit.

With about 18 millimetres of rain falling at Corriemungle on Sunday in the hours following the reunion to end what was a dry January, Mr Powell joked the group might hold further reunions to attract more rain.

Mr Powell said the reunion was “a fantastic night” attended by about 140 people with another 40 people sending apologies. He thanked the Port Campbell and surrounding communities for their support of the night.

Among past group members to share their experiences at the reunion were veteran members Ross Powell and Ken Ackerley of Parratte near Timboon and former agriculture department officer and group facilitator Peter Haynes.

Andrew Powell said the message from the veterans to the young farmers at the dinner was that it did not matter what size their dairy farm was.

“Their message was the biggest things you can do is to do what you do well and do it profitably,” Mr Powell said.

He said the average age of those at the dinner was in the late thirties and the farmer-driver group thrived on older members teaching younger ones. The group has 65 members and covers an area including Ecklin, Brucknell, Simpson, Princetown and Mepunga.

Mr Powell said those at the meeting were optimistic about the dairy industry’s future but conscious of the current tough seasonal conditions. 

The group’s advice to members was “control things that we can control and the rest will take care of itself,” Mr Powell said.