Rain numbers: Great downfall in western NSW opens up plenty of land for grazing

Great rains west of the Darling River mean that there is plenty of fertile land for livestock, but there could be a catch.

Thousands of stock are needed to fill empty paddocks in far western NSW which is open for business after the best rain for years.

But high buy-in prices could limit station owners who are faced with huge outlays to get cattle or sheep back into their paddocks.

Nutrien Ag Solutions Broken Hill branch manager Troy Hartman described the rain as “magic” with stations west of the Darling River receiving anything from 20-90 millimetres in the most recent falls and “no one missed out”.

Broken Hill has measured 292mm of rain so far this year compared to its long-term average of 111mm while further north, Tibooburra has registered 226mm against an average of 99mm.

“People are saying it’s the best rain since 2016 and one station owner I spoke to got two inches (50mm) and in the prior six years, had only averaged 2-1/2 inches (65mm) of rain for the whole year,” Mr Hartman said.

“There is a lot of this western country that is still destocked after the drought so essentially it’s been rested, just like a fallow period in cropping, and the feed will now grow.”

Mr Hartman said while many producers would like to fill their paddocks once the feed grew, they would be limited given the high prices for cattle and sheep.

“We will have heaps of room for cattle and could take thousands and thousands with the feed that will grow but when you buy a truck load, it adds up to a lot of money,” he said.

“Offering agistment could well be a way of eating that feed – we’ve had calls from as far away as the Northern Territory looking for paddocks.”

Elders Victoria/Riverina state livestock manager Matt Tinkler said it would be hard for those who did not already have a stake in cattle to try to buy in the current market.

Demand was also coming from other regions of NSW and Queensland which had also had good rain recently.

“The Western Division areas are at some advantage as they can take both Bos indicus and British bred cattle, but you would have to think that all options are on the table when it comes to working out what they will do,” Mr Tinkler said.

“It may be buying in stock, or it may be agistment – what they will get and at what price will dictate those options.”

Meanwhile, the Central Darling Shire Council at Wilcannia still had many roads closed on Monday, as “more than 150mm of rain has been received in the area in the past month which has slowed down the drying of unsealed roads”, a council spokesman said.