LOCAL sheep producers are continuing to feel the pinch of challenging seasonal conditions since April, with below average rainfall and severe frosts having stymied pasture growth.
The autumn period began with little to no rain that continued into winter, producing stunted crops and pastures.
Only half the average September rainfall last month wasn't the start to spring producers were hoping for.
Doug James, who has lived on his 'Viewbank' sheep property at Boweya and has been farming for the past 54 years, believes the struggle is very real and yet manageable, however, other farmers in the district have also taken measures to sustain their property.
“The winter season was tough going to say the least, however, as we head into the second month of spring, conditions have not changed in our favour and we certainly have a battle on our hands,” Mr James said.
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“We have had 350mm of rainfall in Boweya since January but one third of that total fell in January/February, which is useless to us because we needed decent rain weeks ago as the subsoil is still very dry.
“The green drought is certainly here and has proven to be a nightmare for many farmers locally like myself, who have very limited pasture to sustain our livestock.
“A lack of rainfall and six frosts in 10 days has really stunted the growth in paddocks, which not only limits the availability of feed, but also sets a bad scene for the remainder of spring.
“In the last eight weeks, we have only seen between 3-4mm in each rain event where neighbouring towns have seen triple that amount, so a stroke of luck does play a small part in the big picture.
“We are trying to be conservative with our numbers and how much we stock from paddock to paddock.
“To keep numbers at a sustainable level, we sell a consignment of 400 lambs at a time to the abattoir...fortunately lamb prices are holding steady at the moment.
“We haven’t been forced to sell prematurely which is positive.
“The market has been a bit up and down but is finally settling which is good."
According to Meat and Livestock Australia, local young lambs on average reached a top of $270 for a small pen of export weights estimated at 32kg cwt with the best average price $256 and then $245/head with young lambs in a range of 24-28kg cwt made from $200 to $240/head, to average between 800c to 820c/kg.
Medium trades around 21-24kg cwt sold from $160 to $190/head and these categories averaged between 760c to 800c/kg as lighter weight lambs re-stockers, with bigger framed store lambs in the 18-20kg cwt range from $140 to $158/head on average followed by $70 to $130/head for small lambs to the paddock.
“Lamb weights on the farm are around 5kgs lighter than normal due to the lack of green feed and the cooler weather,” Mr James said.
“We stopped feeding grain in early August as we have had enough feed in the paddock for another few weeks.
“Unless we get good rain in October, we will have to re-commence grain feeding again which would be very unusual for this time of the year.
“On a normal year we would have surplus feed but unfortunately it’s not the case this year.
“With supplementary feeding, we can finish off our lambs at a good weight.
“We can’t expect miracles but we are doing our best to stay ahead of the game.”
