LYN Patterson says he is hanging out for some wet weather.

The Allora farmer, who keeps cattle and grows oats, lucerne and barley, said the season has changed dramatically in the past 12 months.

“We haven’t had any decent rain since the middle of June,” he said.

“August can be windy and it’s always dry but, hopefully, winter will be finished soon and we get the storms.”

Mr Patterson has an irrigation system he turns to when the rain doesn’t come. He said it sat untouched for the first half of the year but he had relied on it during the dry winter months.

Yesterday the farmer made the journey to the Warwick pig and calf sale to see what was on offer.

“I come sometimes to buy some weaner calves, mainly steers,” he said.

“I don’t think I’ll get anything today though.”

Fellow pig and calf sale attendee Graham Stewart said he had come from his home at Hendon to look at the calves on offer.

“I have cattle there – all breeds but I stay away from the dairy cattle though,” he said.

“There’s no money in them.”

As has been the trend nation-wide, Mr Stewart said there had been a dip in supply in the Warwick cattle market.

“They’re hard to get – the yardings have been down quite a bit,” he said.

“Earlier this year there were 2000-2500 (in some local markets); now they’ve dropped to 900.”

He blamed such factors as the high Australian dollar and poor export numbers for contributing to the decline in cattle numbers.

Both farmers said they would not go to see what was on offer at the Ekka, which starts this week.

“This is my outing,” Mr Stewart said.