Lockyer graziers suffer drought in silence
Photo: ALI KUCHEL
CATTLE graziers in the Lockyer Valley are suffering in silence as bores dry up, feedstocks run low and fears of a rainless winter intensify.
It may look green in some irrigated parts of the Lockyer, but if you look to the Tenthill Valleys, Blenheim, Ropeley, Glen Cairn and Adare, paddocks are turning to dust.
Graziers who make a living off their farms are being forced to slash herd numbers, selling their breeding stock because they can’t afford to feed them.
Ropeley farmer Graeme Becker said there had been no change to the funding available to help farmers since the Lockyer Valley was declared drought affected in May last year.
His 60 head of droughtmaster cattle and 40 sheep are “getting by” thanks to the waste vegetables he finds for them.
He said the water tower where people could pay to fill tanks was always busy, with animal producers queueing for a truckload of water.
Bob Fowke, 80, went to school in the Lockyer Valley, moved away for his work as an overseer and 50 years later returned to the valley to retire.
“I’ve seen the effects of drought and how it decimates a district and brings them to their knees,” he said.
“They need every bit of help they can get and it’s very hard, some people are very private and they’ll never admit that they’re on their knees.”