These days he is lucky to get two or three. 

The dry, hot weather has all but destroyed his lawnmowing business but he is optimistic. 

Mr Roberts joked to a customer that he would not charge him a lawnmowing fee, rather it would be a search fee.

“I used to mow people’s lawns about once a fortnight, now I’d be lucky to do it once a month,” he said.

A stark contrast to January last year when he had to mow regular clients’ lawns every week. 

Mr Roberts said he was lucky he had a background on an orchard and was able to find some work around the region picking cherries.

“It’s been great for cherries but there’s just no lawn, everything is just gone,” he said.

“I don’t even look at mine.”

Mr Roberts’ immediate future mowing lawns does not look promising. 

According to the Bureau of Meteorology there is a chance of a shower or two on Friday, Sunday and Monday but not enough to get lawns growing.

“Really, we need two or three inches over at least two days,” he said.

“We need a heavy deluge to soak up into the soil because it’s all so hard and unless we get a heavy fall it will all just wash away.”

This year Orange has had 1.4mm of rain. Last year there was 95.8 mm for the month of January. 

Mr Roberts said he had taken to carrying a fire extinguisher with him to ensure there would be no fires started from his lawnmower due to the hot, dry weather.