South Australian Dairyfarmers’ Association president Rob Brokenshire said things were tough, and the situation had been exacerbated by lack of hay and consequent high prices.
“Our farmers’ cash flows have taken a hard hit as they have tried to source fodder to make up for the lack of a spring break, but that is proving to be difficult and expensive as well,” Rob said.
Rob said this year’s spring break was practically non-existent with frost, cold weather and no rain halting pasture growth and shutting the season down to just a short and unproductive 12-week window.
“It has been a green drought — there is some colour there, but absolutely no growth,” Rob said.
He said there was also concern farmers who have access to irrigation might run out of allocation due to the prolonged length of this dry spell and the hot conditions increasing transpiration losses.
Rob said SADA had been working hard to support its farmers and had successfully lobbied the South Australian Government for $18 million in drought support
The support includes a range of measures including grants for on-farm drought resilience infrastructure, mental health and community support and funding to enable donated fodder to reach more communities.
Assistance includes:
- $5 million for on-farm drought infrastructure grants for rebates of up to 75 per cent (to a maximum of $5000 excluding GST) to assist with projects to manage drought.
- $2 million to assist charities with freight costs to transport donated fodder.
- $1 million for additional health and wellbeing support through the Rural Financial Counselling Service and Family and Business Support Program.
- $4.4 million budget commitment to provide Family and Business (FaB) mentors and rural financial counsellors to link people with the appropriate assistance.
- $5.5 million funding provided to the Future Drought Fund for ongoing programs to help farmers with business resilience planning, climate tools and more resilient farming practices.
SADA is also seeking to link farmers with potential fodder opportunities to help reduce some additional stress.
Hindmarsh Tiers dairy farmer Mandy Pacitti, husband Gino and son Andrew milk around 300 Holsteins.
She said their dairy business was currently slammed on all fronts by a perfect storm — a poor spring, no fodder reserves and a broken-down main bore.
“We are getting paid good money for our milk, but the unprecedented increase in costs means we are starting to see shortfalls again,” Mandy said.
The family did manage to cut some silage of their own and source lucerne hay two months ago, however, the fodder shortage has meant they have had to source what they can.
They are currently spending around $45,000 a month on malt, brewers grain and almond hulls to help extend reserves and keep their cows fed.
“To top it all off, our main bore broke down just before Christmas, making any repairs virtually impossible — worst case scenario is a total rebuild and another three-week wait, making us now totally reliant on our smaller bores,” Mandy said.
“We are fortunate we can still irrigate some land, but we just don’t have the capacity to irrigate what we need and the electrical cost to run the bores is quite significant, even though we have some solar to help mitigate costs.
“It is a really difficult time for all South Australian dairy farmers.”
WEATHER WOES
Parts of South Australia have experienced their driest year on record and food producers have been counting the cost.
The Bureau of Meterology said lowest annual rainfall totals were recorded in places including Maitland on the Yorke Peninsula and Wirrabara Forest in the Southern Flinders.
The bureau has released its preliminary records for 2024, with a full report to be released next month.
BOM meteorologist Chris Kent said much of the state’s agricultural area had experienced “very much below-average rainfall”.
“Through the Yorke Peninsula and part of the mid-north, some locations recorded [the] lowest yearly rainfalls on record, so it wasn’t a good year for rainfall across the south of the state,” he said
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