NSW drought: Farmers risk injury cutting trees to help feed cattle

Drought-stricken farmers are risking their lives to feed their starving cattle. With paddocks still dry, farmers have turned to lopping Kurrajong trees for cattle feed, which is proving risky. Gunnedah farm labourer Grant Callaghan broke his eye socket, wrist and seven ribs when he fell 6m out of one of those trees.

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Drought-stricken farmers are risking their lives to feed their starving cattle.

With paddocks still dry and hay expensive, farmers have turned to lopping Kurrajong trees, as the leaves make good cattle feed and have been used in times of drought for decades.

But trimming the trees is proving a risky business.

Gunnedah farm labourer Grant Callaghan, 51, broke his eye socket, wrist and seven ribs when he fell 6m out of a Kurrajong tree in September.

Grant Callaghan, 51, broke his wrist, eye socket and seven ribs when he fell out of Kurrajong Tree while lopping branches to feed stock. Picture: Peter Lorimer

“As soon as I hit the ground, I thought I was dead,” Mr Callaghan told The Sunday Telegraph.

“There was so much blood gushing from a cut on my forehead, it completely drenched a towel.”

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Mr Callaghan was the equivalent of three storeys high when the branch he was holding for balance snapped and he fell backwards.

Doctors at Tamworth Hospital said he would have died or been left a quadriplegic if he hadn’t landed on his front.

The force of the impact was so great, days later Mr Callaghan’s wife Nicole thought he needed a shave — but what she mistook for stubble was actually dirt lodged in his skin.

Grant Callaghan has 10 screws inserted into his wrist bones.

Grant Callaghan broke his eye socket in the fall.

Six months and 10 screws in his wrist bones later, Mr Callaghan still doesn’t have enough strength to do a push-up, let alone return to farming, but he said there is no way to make the job safer.

“Everyone says use a ladder but you’re climbing too high and you can’t use a cherry picker either because it won’t get across the paddocks,” he said.

“Harnesses don’t work either because the falling branches get tangled in the ropes.”

A scan of Grant Callaghan’s head after his serious fall.

Grant Callaghan broke his wrist.

Hay is so scarce in Central West NSW, graziers are forced to truck it in from Victoria, which is why it’s cheaper and faster to lop Kurrajong trees deliberately dotted throughout paddocks for use in dry spells.

George Masters, 79, has been climbing Kurrajong trees since the drought shrivelled the pasture on his cattle property 90 minutes southwest of Tamworth in mid-2017.

With more than 1000 Kurrajong trees on his 1250-acre property, Mr Masters can afford to stand on relatively low branches and use a bow saw but he lives on his own and worries how he could call for help if he fell.

George Masters, 79, has had some close calls while trying to cut the branches off Kurrajong trees. Picture: Peter Lorimer

Twice this year, cattle jostling for leaves have knocked his ladder askew but fortunately he’s been able to reach a rung with one foot and climb down.

“Last week I was reaching up high and a branch broke from under me but I managed to cling on with both hands, although I was swinging around,” Mr Masters said.

“In my old age my balance isn’t as good as it was 20 years ago but I can’t stop lopping until the drought breaks because I can’t get my hands on enough hay.”

Earlier this month patchy rain fell in Central West NSW with Orange registering 47mm of rainfall, Cowra 8mm, Dubbo 15mm and Forbes 11mm.

The rain has produced a green tinge in paddocks but it’s not yet tall enough for cattle to eat.

Farmers have planted half the winter crop they would usually and will need another 50-60mm to plant the rest before the window closes in July, with 98.9 per cent of NSW still in drought.

Originally published as NSW drought: Farmers risk injury cutting trees to help feed cattle