Devastating Pelham bushfire reduces family farm to a ‘war zone’
Farmer Jason Beamish has described the “gruesome and gut-wrenching” sight of animals with their legs burnt off struggling to survive in the aftermath of the Pelham bushfire.
Tasmania
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SHEEP farmer Jason Beamish has likened the devastating scenes on his property in the aftermath of the Pelham bushfire to a “war zone”.
The now 2050ha Derwent Valley blaze wiped out about 280ha of the Beamish family farm at Elderslie shortly after it was sparked by dry lightning on Monday afternoon.
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Despite desperately trying to evacuate all the livestock to a safer place as quickly as possible,
Mr Beamish told the Mercury he had counted about 30 dead sheep so far.
“The fire was coming so quickly, I just couldn’t get to them all,” he said.
“We had to go up and gather a few that had survived, but were obviously burnt, and the rocks were still hot a couple of days later.
“When I first came across the scene, it was pretty gruesome and gut-wrenching. It was like a war zone.
“Some of the animals were still getting around with legs burnt off and things like that.
“I don’t like seeing things suffer and I’ve had to destroy some.”
Mr Beamish, who also owns an earthmoving business, has already been in contact with a stock agent to sell a large amount of the surviving sheep as he cannot afford to keep them long-term.
At the moment he has hundreds of merino and cross-bred sheep “boxed together” in a confined paddock, with the ferocious fire destroying most of his boundary and internal fences, as well as all the feed.
“With everything that’s going on, the cost of grass hay is going to be insane this season,” Mr Beamish said.
“This property is pretty much going to be out of action until next spring, so I won’t be getting any income off it.”
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