Seeds of despair as harsh dry drags on in western Victoria
TOM Small faces a massive challenge as drought conditions return to his sheep property near St Arnaud.
TOM and Jenny Small are facing the “worst drought in 12 years” on their Tottington property in western Victoria.
They have had just 200mm of rain this year, 250mm short of what they should have had by now.
The wool growers have been forced to sell wethers and to destock “a few thousand acres”, about a third of their farm. The destocked area has 40 empty dams because of a severe lack of water run-off.
The Smalls began handfeeding sheep three weeks ago, two months earlier than usual, and will soon wean their lambs directly into drought containment pens to save their soil from erosion.
Tom, 36, has experienced five droughts in the 12 years he has been farming.
“People around my age in this area have not seen a good year. Even just an average year would be very welcome,” he said.
Tom said he had always believed climate change would affect the farm but had previously doubted whether the impacts would be seen quickly.
“But now, with this year, you do wonder, is this climate change happening already. And that really worries me.”
His hay yielded half the tonnages they would usually get and they will be forced to buy in grain for feed.
“This will set us back three years, but we’re better prepared now than years ago,” he said.
Tom said the Federal Government was “directionless” over drought policies.
He would like to see the Commonwealth co-fund, with farmers, investment in more on-farm water and fodder storages to help them make it through droughts.
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