“Just because it’s raining, we’re not out of the woods just yet,” Kirstin Bisley, livestock officer for Hunter Local Land Services in the Manning-Great Lakes, says.
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In February 2018, before our region had a bit of welcome rainfall, Wingham farmer Greg Newell of Linga Longa Farm posted a shocking video on Instagram of a dry and cracked dam on his property.
Watch Farmer Greg having a rant from the bottom of his dam about government assistance:
Greg says the drought seemed to hit suddenly.
“It’s tough times. The tough times happened very, very quickly, I think they snuck up on us.
“It was like we had a green drought. We knew it was dry, and we still had feed. The first weekend in February was the last of it, everything disappeared,” he says.
Greg says that while there was feed on the paddocks, it was getting eaten off quickly every day, because of heat and lack of rainfall.
The Newells began buying water in to the property in September.
“We’ve got a bore and a creek and a couple of dams, but the problem with the bore is you can’t see the bottom of it so you never know how much water’s in there, you just go and wake up one day, and the pump’s going to be going, and nothing’s going to come out. Bores are always unknown quantities.
“Evaporation and extreme heat - how do you measure that? It’s just an unmeasurable quantity, how much water’s going to evaporate on a daily basis,” Greg says.
It’s not only this district. I mean, we’re a high rainfall area, and look what we’re going through. My friends on the other side of the range, it’s devasating too.
- Greg Newell
While conservation of feed and water was the farmer’s main defensive tool, he also had to downsize his herd.
“We’ve taken numbers down basically because it was dry times.
“It’s not only this district. I mean, we’re a high rainfall area, and look what we’re going through. My friends on the other side of the range, it’s devastating too,” Greg says.
Kirsten Bisley echoes Greg’s concerns for farmers further west.
“The rain that we’ve had is absolutely wonderful but we’re a long way from being out of the seasonal and the difficult conditions that we’ve been in, particularly in the Upper Hunter area. Parts of our area up here are looking great; I have been to Lansdowne today, and it looks fantastic up there, so they haven’t had as tough a time as a lot of the other areas, where if you get over towards Gloucester and over the hills it’s quite concerning in those areas,” she says.
“It’s certainly still difficult in the Manning Valley; we’re in dire need of rain as well, but there were areas that were probably a little bit more progressed than others and a little bit more behind in their seasonal conditions in terms of rainfall.”
Farmer Greg celebrates some welcome rainfall:
Hunter Local Land Services recently put out a warning to producers that there had been reported cases of kikuyu poisoning and to keep an eye out for their stock.
“What we’ve seen with the rain is a bit of a pick in the grass, the kikuyu particularly because we’ve still got the warmer weather.
“When kikuyu’s previously been under quite a bit of stress, and had quite a bit of moisture, there are issues there with toxins and things, particularly in those monoculture kikuyu paddocks were stock don’t have access to anything else. It is a low risk but be aware and keep an eye on your stock,” Kirsten advises.
HLLS have been running producer workshops since October last year.
“The whole point of the producer updates was to let people know we’re here. We’ve got technical advice through Local Land Services on livestock management, pasture management, animal health, biosecurity, pest animals - there’s a range of things we can fit landholders with,” Kirsten says.
The forecast, whether it’s six weeks away or six months away, it’s pretty bleak. Because it doesn’t rain grass.
- Greg Newell
One of those ‘range of things’ is advice in knowing where to access financial help. Kirsten mentions the Rural Assistance Authority and Centrelink, who manage financial assistance in difficult conditions and financial hardship times.
The financial hardship times may not be over for our farmers yet.
“Where the problem is for farmers is now, is we need the rain now to get the growth to get ready for our winter pastures,” Greg says.
“If it rained today, we’d still be doing it very tough in winter, we wouldn’t get the growth.
“The forecast, whether it’s six weeks away or six months away, it’s pretty bleak. Because it doesn’t rain grass.”