Farmers in South Australia’s northeast selling off stock as effects of drought set in
AS drought conditions cripple eastern Australia, farmers closer to home are selling their stock or buying in feed for them, as the need for rain reaches crisis point.
AS drought conditions cripple eastern Australia, farmers closer to home are selling their stock or buying in feed for them as the need for rain reaches crisis point.
In northeast South Australia, the paddocks are bone-dry and “plagues” of kangaroos and emus have destroyed any skerrick of feed that may have been available.
Cradock farmer Andrew Hilder has sold 1000 head of ewes and is considering selling more as hay stocks dwindle and the price increases because of interstate demand.
“We haven’t had to destroy stock but the sale of stock will hit big-time at the end of July if we haven’t had big rain,” Mr Hilder told The Advertiser.
“At the moment, we’re feeding 2000 sheep about 12-14 big bales of hay a week, plus nuts, because there’s nothing on the ground. Hay will soon be virtually non-existent without paying $300-$400 per tonne and we can’t sustain buying it for that price.”
The family station, Acacia Valley, 360km north of Adelaide, has received just 51.5mm of rain this year, compared to an average yearly fall of 260mm. Mr Hilder said the conditions were similar to 1982 when Cradock received just 88ml – one of the driest years since records began, in 1888.
“But this is the first time in my lifetime there hasn’t been an option to do something with the stock,” he said.
“It’s so dry over a big area of SA we haven’t got the luxury of sending them off for agistment – we’re really buggered.
“A lot of pastoral areas here and north of Hawker are getting to the drought stage.”
The June rainfall was below average for most of Australia, but NSW is hardest hit, with about 90 per cent of the state in drought, prompting a $600 million emergency relief package by its State Government.
“I’ve been here for 50 years and at the end of the day we knew this was going to happen because we’ve had four good years leading up to 2017,” Mr Hilder said.
“With the event of sheep prices coming up and wool prices being good, things were sailing along OK and people were probably slightly overstocked because of the good years.”
Elders general manager David Adamson said the region’s farmers had started offloading stock over the past six months due to the conditions.
“In terms of prices, good stock is certainly selling well, although we are seeing more unfinished stock coming onto the market due to the current seasonal conditions and we anticipate this will continue as we move through to spring,” he said. Primary Industries Minister Tim Whetstone said farmers could access the Farm Household Allowance to receive nearly $25,000 a year, and Farm Investment Loans for support.