By Margaret Maccoll
Farmers across Noosa are taking measures to compensate for the dry spell and hoping for rain to ease the pressure.
Chef Jodie Williams of Black Ant Gourmet at Kin Kin General Store agists droughtmaster cattle and quarterhorses on several properties in the region. She said their cattle get their water from springfed dams and while the dams still had water the springs had stopped flowing and local creeks were drying up.
Jodie has weaned calves early to ease the load on the cows, the horses were running out of grain and their business had run out of water several times.
“If we don’t get a lot of rain in the next month a lot of people will be affected,” she said.
In the past two months Jodie has spent about $2000 on eight truckloads of water for the cafe. She said in comparison she’d bought only four loads in the previous five years.
Brett Johns of Cooroy Grass Fed Meats said they “were struggling” with their small crops and beef cattle.
“We ran out of creek water in July and our cattle are looking at me every day saying ‘where’s the green grass’,” he said.
“We have feed for the cattle and we haven’t had to buy in but in two to three weeks we’ll be in trouble.”
Brett said as a third generation farmer they’d been through dry spells before and keep their stock numbers down to deal with it.
“We always plan for the worst,” he said.
“We keep the cattle healthy. We supplement with minerals. As the feed quality keeps dropping the cattle will lose weight and condition.”
Maureen Piggott of Country Noosa is optimist about the ability of farmers to weather the dry. She said people struggled along for 20 years during a drought that ended in 2008.
“It will rain. It doesn’t last forever,” she said.
