A sight for sore eyes
LITTLE Ella Riley can scarcely remember the last time she saw a puddle, let alone one big enough to wallow in.
That all changed over the weekend when rain fell over the North West and Central West regions of New South Wales giving drought-hit farmers a rare reason to smile.
“Lately we’ve been running inside to get out of the dust storms that look like twisters,” the nine-year-old from Mullaley, west of Gunnedah, said.
Her gumboots were full with the first decent rainfall her family’s farm has had this year.
“It’s so much fun playing in the puddles because it feels like we have our own pool,” Ella said. The weekend’s highest rains fell on Barraba (33.6mm), Inverell (28.8mm) and Delungra (28.8mm), according to the Bureau of Meteorology. Storms delivered 25mm to the Riley farm, which will likely mean Ella’s dad Bruce can plant sorghum in November. However, scattered thunderstorms struck from Mungindi on the Queensland border south to Dubbo, blanketing bare paddocks with heavy hail and more than 25mm of rain.
At the Rileys’ 1500-acre mixed cropping and cattle farm, rain fell for just the second time this year, which tripled their total rainfall for the year in hours. Two thunderstorms at 2am and at 11.30am delivered 25mm of valuable rain, which won’t break the drought but will likely mean Ella’s dad Bruce Riley can plant a sorghum crop in November. Mr Riley says the bank would have already repossessed his 1500-acre farm if it weren’t for his off-farm income as a carpet layer.
“I haven’t planted wheat this year and didn’t harvest a wheat crop last year either, which would normally be my primary source of income,” Mr Riley said.
“Widespread rain like this gives us some hope.”
Last week Mr Riley bought cattle for $17 each from graziers who couldn’t afford to feed them, which he’s been grazing on a failed sorghum crop.
“If I’d had this rain a few months ago I would have been admitted to hospital to get my smile removed because I could have planted wheat, but in this drought any rain’s welcome,” he said.
The drought has been so devastating in the North West Slopes around Mullaley and Gunnedah, farmers and graziers last month queued for a share of water being emptied from a new eight-lane pool in town.