Millions of sheep, cattle could be caught up in Australian bushfires

More than eight million sheep and two million cattle could be affected by the current Australian bushfires, analysts say.

MORE than eight million sheep and two million cattle could be caught up in the current bushfire crisis across NSW and Victoria.

Figures from Mecardo analysts show 8.6 million sheep — representing 12 per cent of the national flock — and 2.3 million cattle — representing 9 per cent of the national herd — are farmed in areas affected by this season’s bushfires.

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Mecardo and The Weekly Times are not suggesting this is the number of livestock impacted by the fires but the total number in fire-affected regions.

The analysis shows southeast NSW is home to the biggest number of sheep with 3.37 million head ahead of the NSW Central Tablelands (2.74 million), NSW Northern Tablelands (1.91 million), Victoria’s North East (291,000), East Gippsland (191,000) and the NSW Hunter region (132,000).

The biggest cattle population within fire-affected regions is in the NSW Northern Tablelands, which is home to 690,000 head. The NSW Central Tablelands has 445,000 cattle, ahead of southeast NSW (379,000), Victoria’s North East (367,000), the NSW Hunter (362,000), East Gippsland (106,000).