Down Under, things do feel a bit upside down
WITH our long-anticipated trip to Australia finally under way – and after getting on and off more flights than I’d care to remember – it was a surprise to be met at journey’s end with the sort of rain, gales and floods which would make a wet weekend on Scotland’s west coast jealous.
Wondering if our plane had just flown around in a big circle before dropping us off back at Glasgow Airport, it took the first sighting of some rather windswept kangaroos and cockatoos to convince me that this wasn’t actually the case.
However, these all-too-familiar conditions were intermingled with the odd sun-drenched spell – more than enough to have us looking forward to a barbie and a few cold ones at the end of the day.
That said, though, there was no missing the widespread flooding in most of Victoria. Many of the surrounding crops, all getting close to harvest, were under water.
Earlier in the year, the rain had been welcomed for breaking a two-year drought and providing lush growing conditions.
So I sympathised with this sudden reversal of fortunes. The continued rainfall and flooding meant that crops were being damaged. And while some would be downgraded for quality, in some areas farmers decided that once things did dry up it would be cheaper to graze them or simply bale the whole crop for livestock feed rather than put them through the combine.
However, for cattle and sheep breeders the rain-fed good news continued. While wet conditions have been turning heavilygrazed pastureland to mud, prices were still soaring at markets around the country, and stockmen still competed to buy animals.
After years of limited grazing availability – and too many animal mouths around the country to be fed – the boot was suddenly on the other foot.
With sheep and cattle numbers at historically low levels – the national sheep flock having dropped from close to 180 million 50 years ago to nearer 70 million – there were far fewer animals on the ground.
Store and breeding cattle and sheep were in high demand to eat up this year’s extra grazing – leading to record prices at the sales.
So the rain brought mixed results. But, as we’re not here indefinitely, I’m sure that the “big wet” will soon be over and things will get back to normal.