Grass is slow to respond in Longreach region

Closer inspection shows a few green shoots looking lonely amongst the many blackened stalks that years of drought have baked hard, while random clumps of herbage are just breaking through the clay crust, a fortnight after the rain.

Peter and Kim Saunders know they’ve had a reprieve from the relentless effect of drought, but they also know it’s by no means over.

“This country is going to need a lot of summer rain to bring the volume of grass back,” Peter said.

A lifetime veteran of the region, Peter should know how the country responds.

He said the drought that began with a failed wet season in 2013 and continues in that vein is “as good as the other worst drought” they’ve endured, probably in 1995-6.

“We hope this is the beginning of the end,” he said. “We hope it’s the start of turning the corner.”

The couple has experienced below average rainfall for the last three-and-a-half years, which they’ve responded to by lightening off and then lightening off a bit more.

By April this year they had totally destocked one of their Longreach properties and had only 2600 grown breeding ewes and 800 ewe lambs left at home, down from their usual 12,000-head flock.

While there is just enough herbage for the stock still alive, the slow grass response and cold temperatures mean that Peter and Kim won’t be restocking just yet.

“We’ll have to see what sort of response keeps coming, so we can hopefully keep the sheep we’ve got.

“There’s moisture in the ground so with early summer rain, there should be something, but we’re not even thinking about it yet.”

Coupled with the need for patience is the rise in the cost of replacement stock.

They run Dorpers and have been watching AuctionsPlus sales to gauge markets in recent weeks.

“Coupled with the cost is the need to source animals that are free of Johne’s,” Kim said.

In the past they have been growing lambs out to 12 months, but now want to concentrate on selling younger lambs in forward store condition, partly because of the money received when they were forced to sell sheep at that age, and partly because they say it’s better than punting on a season.

“This volume of winter rain is a rarity for us so we see it as a change in our fortunes,” Peter said. “We’re starting from a better place to face the summer ahead.”