Thursday 13 February 2014

We are at the pointy end...


 

In 5 days, it will be exactly 12 months since I was granted Individual Droughted  Property  status for our sheep and cattle grazing property in southern Queensland. That’s not when the drought started, I had started cutting Mulga for cattle feed in October 2012, all the while hoping that the summer rains would come and that “it's only a few weeks away now, surely” we started feeding cotton seed that we still had on hand in November, and ordered our first truckload of fresh cottonseed for the last delivery before Christmas. “That will tide the ewes and lambs over until it rains”.

 February last year, some of the waters started to give out and it had become necessary to start rolling out some poly pipe. Just a bit to get water to the cows, it’ll rain soon.

By May, all the signs were there that we were in for a dry winter. We were pushing Mulga with the bulldozer and had fenced off and equipped some of the dams that had started to go boggy. It really started to look like we were in a bad way for winter. But the Weather Bureau, ever positive, was forecasting significantly above average rainfall. “we only need a little bit to keep the sheep going, they say it’s gonna rain, so we’ll join the ewes.... might buy another load of cotton seed to be on the safe side”

All through the winter we kept feeding Cottonseed, lick and pushing Mulga, until the dozer broke down, but the Bureau says its gonna rain soon. So we started cutting with a chainsaw.

In August, we weaned the last of the late calves off the cows, they are getting poor, but we found some agistment not far away, so we shifted the cows away and early weaned the calves on to cottonseed and Mulga, all the while continuing to fence in waters as they gave out.

By the end of August, we had started to run seriously short of water in our ewe paddock, so more poly pipe and tanks were put in. But the sheep were in good enough condition to shear at the end of August so we got away with it.

The end of September, more dams went dry, more waters were required.

By October, we knew we were in trouble. The Bureau finally admitted they had got it wrong and the outlook for the summer was bleak. 40% chance of average for the summer..... And our ewes were lambing..... And we ran out of cottonseed.... and another dam went dry...

We started feeding the sheep the remaining cottonseed, and in the mean time, were blessed with finding some cheap chickpea gradings. 10 tonne would get us through to Christmas, surely there would be a shower by then.

It didn’t...

There wasn’t....

More dams went dry....

The large house dam installed only a couple of years before gave out....

So, come December, we cut the fences and swung the gates to let the stock forage for what feed they can find. We started to transition over to supplying nearly all our stockwater from our bore, upgrading the pump and pipelines.... surely it will rain in the New Year.....

It didn’t.....

By the end of January, we had started on our second 10 tonne of chickpea and all but two of our dams where dry.

The Mulga in the paddock nearest the bore had all gone....

All our lambs had died......

More pipe and troughs were installed.

So here I am 12 months on, 12 months of lost production and no reprieve in sight. In the last 12 months, I’ve done:

-70 tonne of cotton seed

-20 tonne of chickpea

- Countless tonnes of minerals supplement

- Hundreds of bales of hay

- 5000 acres of mulga harvested

-20km of poly pipe

-17 new troughs

-10 new tanks

-5 new pumps

- Worn out 2 chainsaws

 

And lost a heap of my future income stream in the process, with the death of countless livestock.

By the end of winter, it had really stopped being Just Another Drought. The native vegetation started to die. The wildlife started to die.

Since Christmas, there has been a significant and sustained die off of kangaroos from starvation, they don’t eat chickpea or mulga, and while there is still dry grass in the paddock, it has been there too long and the harsh sun has bleached it of all its nutritional value. Daily I drag dead roos from the troughs, where they have climbed in to drink and cool off, but are too weak to climb back out. Or they just die in the shade of the trees, unable to go on.

The native eucalypts dropped their leaves, and the Brigalow trees went red, then brown, their leaves crunching up in your hand like potato chips.

It’s not a drought anymore, it’s not even an exceptional circumstance....
 

 It’s a natural disaster.

Rainfall records show the driest year ever recorded in the district. Normally, we get around 530mm, or a bit over 21 inches on the old scale,  for 2013 we recorded 200mm or 8 inches ... and 2014 so far is less.
I currently have 1200 ewes spread over 10,000 acres.... and I still have to hand feed them. The cattle and the wethers are having free run of a couple of other paddocks too, they forage for what they find, and what I can afford to buy them. There is no mineral supplements, I can’t afford that any more, its mulga, chickpea and whatever you can forage. I’m saying I have 2 dams left, but that is being generous, one is a boggy slophole.

So I’m at the pointy end of this drought now, the funds are running out, but the bills are piling up. A decision must be made, do we continue to throw more money at the problem? Or quit now and walk away? Surely it will rain soon.

I read a comment piece the other day by an economist saying that agriculture isn’t a special case, tourism doesn’t get any special help when they experience a downturn due to the weather. No, that’s true, they don’t. But unlike agriculture, they don’t see their expenses rise, and their income fall, they are a discretionary industry, not the staple provider of the staff of life, they are not personally responsible for the welfare of thousands of living, breathing, feeling animals.

So tomorrow, I’ll get up and do battle again trying to do the best for the animals in my care with the little that I have.... But the Weather Bureau is optimistic again.... surely it will rain soon.....

15 comments:

  1. no words mate. Chin up. It may be of no comfort, but one things for sure, you aren't alone. Some have it better, some worse. It is indeed a natural disaster.

    And it might rain next week.

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  2. You're a bloody legend mate, It cant stay dry forever, there are not many folk who can handle such bad weather, But off you trot again tomorrow, with eye on day after that, and one day you will see those lambs and cattle fat.
    One day when it rains..

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  3. we are walking the same walk as you, we just keep on plodding on some how - Coolabri Station Bourke NS

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  4. I feel your pain mate ... but making management decisions based on BOM forecasts!
    Ouch!
    The biggest frustration for me is that the politically engineered cattle market crash.
    Has meant I've been forced to break my golden rule, and rely on hope that it will rain.
    If there's one thing I've learnt over 40 year as a grazier in SW QLD it's this. If you find yourself in a position, where you wake up every day 'hoping' it will rain your in BIG trouble.

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  5. I feel your pain, there is no other industry that would endure such hardship & still get up to do the same thing again tomorrow. We are the biggest gamblers in the world, yet there is no protection there for us. Feeding the multitudes doesn't seem to be a priority, what can we do to turn the" focus on" agriculture & the importance it plays not only to our local economy, but to the world. If only we paid our overseas aid in the form of produce it would be a win win situation. Then we may have a turn about on what is important to this country as one day they will stop mining coal & iron ore along with the car industry they will be a thing of the past. Our agricultural land is here forever & if managed effectively which most if not all of us do will be here forever. Drought proofing, I am not sure there is any such thing the only time this subject comes up is when there is a drought, then it rains then it is forgotten. At this pointy end of the drought what can we do? We are having meetings here to find out more about monetary funding for our farmers to provide assistance in some cases to put food on the table. Bringing attention to the plight through the media often gets mixed responses from the general public who have no idea what a day in the life of a farmer at the pointy end of a drought is like. Keep ploughing on my friend & know it will rain again.....its tough & it may get tougher...just hang in there

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  6. If tears would break the drought, it would be breaking now. I only wish I could do .... whatever to help... but my little is nothing like what is needed, just wish that tears could end the drought..
    Kathryn Cavanagh

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  7. I have been writing to newspapers and politicians for more than ten years trying to get some traction toward the building of dams , it took government three years to reply to one of my letters and then they decided to bury me in reports and statistics till I had a rheem or so of reports mainly about the so called water grid near Brisbane , Like that was going to help folk in the bush , I eventually started my own website on facebook called Dam Builder and I located a similar site called The future of Australia , Develop or die , which advocates dams and rail infrastructure, Occasionally politicians mention the need for dams , And on Paul Murray live last night there was a candid discussion with a local polly from Cloncurry about the need for dams to give Australian's regions reliable water , Australia has 500 dams if you include every Dam , Weir , Reservoir and barrage in the country , Including Tasmania , America is struggling with it's 75,000 dams , and pipelines and canals etc , Don't get me started , Government's failure to keep building dams is the main reason why Australia is losing the game of life .I was a commercial fisherman on ,Moreton bay until they closed half of my fishery and drove many out of the industry , I know the apathy of Government first hand , Today's government is no different , When it rains you will be forgotten again , Farmers need to insist in their share of this countries wealth in the form of water infrastructure , Visit the Two websites and see where you think would be the best place to start , Help is at hand but you must insist on it and keep the momentum going . ANDEV Project Gina Reinhardt's own website is also an ally in this development push .God bless and prosper you , I will keep the pressure on from this end , There are thousands of people actively pushing for development in the north including dams .

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  8. Federal Minister of Agriculture, Barnaby Joyce = www.maff.gov.au. QLD Minster of Agric, John McVeigh = Agriculture@ministerial.qld.gov.au. SA Minister of Agriculture, Gail Gago = Minister.gago@sa.gov.au. If everyone that read`s Kent`s story could press the " control button " and the "A" button (to copy the above text ) then open your email account and insert the above email addresses and go to the body of your email and press " control button and the " V " button ( which will paste the text into your email) and send it to these Ministers. Kent`s voice deserves to be heard.

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  9. I thank you all for your kind words. I write to raise awareness of what is happening in the bush, I'm not begging for your sympathy, however your kind words are appreciated.

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  10. Stick it out - you have gone so long already - you can do it. It WILL rain soon. Nothing more then I can say apart from I am so glad that i read this post as I really had no idea that things were that bad. And to think over in the west my home town just received 400ml in 48 hours and flooded the joint (Kununurra) :(

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  11. No one can take away the pain of being on the brink, the worry, the stress but rain will come, one day, someday, hopefully soon, it will come. Keep that sense of hope, keep trying, you are doing all you can, the best you can.

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  12. Maybe our pollies need to listen to the climate scientists - this was all predicted - more extreme floods and droughts!

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    1. That is correct Steve and if all vegetation meaning weeds and plant's control the climate by 97%. And so if you kill plant's you can expect more of the same conditions in the future.

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  13. As this was written in February was wondering how you are fairing now. Did you get the rain is it helping in anyway.

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  14. Probably time for a blog update, mate. Miss ya bunches. 😘

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