We are at the pointy end...

 

In 5 days, it will be exactly 12 months since I was granted Individual Droughted  Property  status for our sheep and cattle grazing property in southern Queensland. That’s not when the drought started, I had started cutting Mulga for cattle feed in October 2012, all the while hoping that the summer rains would come and that “it's only a few weeks away now, surely” we started feeding cotton seed that we still had on hand in November, and ordered our first truckload of fresh cottonseed for the last delivery before Christmas. “That will tide the ewes and lambs over until it rains”.

 February last year, some of the waters started to give out and it had become necessary to start rolling out some poly pipe. Just a bit to get water to the cows, it’ll rain soon.

By May, all the signs were there that we were in for a dry winter. We were pushing Mulga with the bulldozer and had fenced off and equipped some of the dams that had started to go boggy. It really started to look like we were in a bad way for winter. But the Weather Bureau, ever positive, was forecasting significantly above average rainfall. “we only need a little bit to keep the sheep going, they say it’s gonna rain, so we’ll join the ewes.... might buy another load of cotton seed to be on the safe side”

All through the winter we kept feeding Cottonseed, lick and pushing Mulga, until the dozer broke down, but the Bureau says its gonna rain soon. So we started cutting with a chainsaw.

In August, we weaned the last of the late calves off the cows, they are getting poor, but we found some agistment not far away, so we shifted the cows away and early weaned the calves on to cottonseed and Mulga, all the while continuing to fence in waters as they gave out.

By the end of August, we had started to run seriously short of water in our ewe paddock, so more poly pipe and tanks were put in. But the sheep were in good enough condition to shear at the end of August so we got away with it.

The end of September, more dams went dry, more waters were required.

By October, we knew we were in trouble. The Bureau finally admitted they had got it wrong and the outlook for the summer was bleak. 40% chance of average for the summer..... And our ewes were lambing..... And we ran out of cottonseed.... and another dam went dry...

We started feeding the sheep the remaining cottonseed, and in the mean time, were blessed with finding some cheap chickpea gradings. 10 tonne would get us through to Christmas, surely there would be a shower by then.

It didn’t...

There wasn’t....

More dams went dry....

The large house dam installed only a couple of years before gave out....

So, come December, we cut the fences and swung the gates to let the stock forage for what feed they can find. We started to transition over to supplying nearly all our stockwater from our bore, upgrading the pump and pipelines.... surely it will rain in the New Year.....

It didn’t.....

By the end of January, we had started on our second 10 tonne of chickpea and all but two of our dams where dry.

The Mulga in the paddock nearest the bore had all gone....

All our lambs had died......

More pipe and troughs were installed.

So here I am 12 months on, 12 months of lost production and no reprieve in sight. In the last 12 months, I’ve done:

-70 tonne of cotton seed

-20 tonne of chickpea

- Countless tonnes of minerals supplement

- Hundreds of bales of hay

- 5000 acres of mulga harvested

-20km of poly pipe

-17 new troughs

-10 new tanks

-5 new pumps

- Worn out 2 chainsaws

 

And lost a heap of my future income stream in the process, with the death of countless livestock.

By the end of winter, it had really stopped being Just Another Drought. The native vegetation started to die. The wildlife started to die.

Since Christmas, there has been a significant and sustained die off of kangaroos from starvation, they don’t eat chickpea or mulga, and while there is still dry grass in the paddock, it has been there too long and the harsh sun has bleached it of all its nutritional value. Daily I drag dead roos from the troughs, where they have climbed in to drink and cool off, but are too weak to climb back out. Or they just die in the shade of the trees, unable to go on.

The native eucalypts dropped their leaves, and the Brigalow trees went red, then brown, their leaves crunching up in your hand like potato chips.

It’s not a drought anymore, it’s not even an exceptional circumstance....
 

 It’s a natural disaster.

Rainfall records show the driest year ever recorded in the district. Normally, we get around 530mm, or a bit over 21 inches on the old scale,  for 2013 we recorded 200mm or 8 inches ... and 2014 so far is less.

I currently have 1200 ewes spread over 10,000 acres.... and I still have to hand feed them. The cattle and the wethers are having free run of a couple of other paddocks too, they forage for what they find, and what I can afford to buy them. There is no mineral supplements, I can’t afford that any more, its mulga, chickpea and whatever you can forage. I’m saying I have 2 dams left, but that is being generous, one is a boggy slophole.

So I’m at the pointy end of this drought now, the funds are running out, but the bills are piling up. A decision must be made, do we continue to throw more money at the problem? Or quit now and walk away? Surely it will rain soon.

I read a comment piece the other day by an economist saying that agriculture isn’t a special case, tourism doesn’t get any special help when they experience a downturn due to the weather. No, that’s true, they don’t. But unlike agriculture, they don’t see their expenses rise, and their income fall, they are a discretionary industry, not the staple provider of the staff of life, they are not personally responsible for the welfare of thousands of living, breathing, feeling animals.

So tomorrow, I’ll get up and do battle again trying to do the best for the animals in my care with the little that I have.... But the Weather Bureau is optimistic again.... surely it will rain soon.....