Dairy farmers from across the region attended Dairy Australia’s ‘Tactics for Dry Times’ session in Inverloch, an event organisers hoped wouldn’t become necessary, but which the ongoing lack of rain made essential.
About 80 farmers heard about the uncertainty regarding rainfall forecasts for coming months, along with advice on herd management, feeding strategies and information on what possibilities are being explored to make water available to those most in need.
Gipps Dairy Regional Manager Karen McLennan spoke of emergency water supply points managed by councils and water authorities, as well as public and private bores across the region, with efforts being made to help farmers get access to their nearest water supply point where possible.
Before the session, Karen told the Sentinel-Times of farmers’ worries about their animals.
“The biggest concern we’re starting to hear now is ‘We’re worried about animal welfare’ because farmers last week and the week before were trying to get cattle to the local sale yards and they couldn’t get cattle in because everybody was doing the same, in terms of trying to offload stock,” she said.
“That started to get us worried; you’ve got no feed, no water and you can’t get rid of your stock, there’s definitely going to be animal welfare concerns,” she said.
She encourages creative solutions where possible, such as a local farmer having an arrangement to harvest water from the large shed roof of a local business.
During the session, Matt Harms of ONFARM Consulting said farmers have reason to be concerned and need to look after each other, stressing that indecision is not an option given current conditions and the risk of ongoing dry weather.
“Get rid of passenger cows; they are sucking the feed out of your system for no value,” he stressed, telling his audience they are not beef farmers.
“Don’t just assume you can send them on the truck; speak to your agent,” he advised, given the high numbers of cattle being sold currently.
Establishing trigger points to determine how many cattle you need to move on according to your situation at set points in time is a way to ensure you make timely decisions.
As for the cattle being fed, fibre was labelled as key, Matt highlighting the need to ration it by using grain to stretch out what hay and silage you have available, explaining that if you run out of fibre and can’t source any, which is becoming increasingly difficult, the only option is to sell cows.
Matt spoke of high evaporation over Summer that has continued during Autumn, believing the situation is worse than that in 2016/17.
Andrew McLean from the Bureau of Meteorology appeared via video link from Melbourne, noting that green vegetation in Bass Coast, Baw Baw and South Gippsland Shires is close to the lowest level recorded since 2001.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t offer any definitive weather forecasts for the region, particularly regarding rain, as the relevant weather models are not giving strong indicators either way.
Indicators for a warmer winter are stronger but there is still no certainty.
Gipps Dairy Board Farmer Director Mick Hughes, whose dairy farm is just out of Inverloch, was another of Wednesday's speakers.
He has observed more evaporation at his place than ever recently, and spoke about some of the tactics he has used to get as much water in his dams as possible.
That includes creating spoon drains through paddocks leading into a dam, a tactic that enabled him to fill one dam overnight.
He also cleans out all his existing drains, enlarges his dams and removes silt.
Using recycled water in the yard is one of the water-saving measures he employs.
Farmers attending the session were encouraged to respond to an email asking what more Gipps Dairy can do to support them through the current tough conditions, Tuesday’s session being prompted by feedback from farmers, particularly those running out of water.
Representatives of a couple of water authorities were present for the Inverloch Community Hub gathering.
