Rain great news but no ‘drought breaker’
THE Plains grazier Bill Bode was thrilled with the 130mm deluge at his property near Prairie over the past four or five days.
“The rain has done us real proud here,” Mr Bode said.
Mr Bode said that last year had been one of the best in 50 years.
Before last year’s floods, Mr Bode had “virtually no stock” with about 200 head on his property. But now, he’s running about 900 head, and is expecting this year to be just as good after the deluge.
But rain is only half the battle for the graziers, Mr Bode, who is also a Flinders Shire councillor, said.
Mr Bode said taking the area off the drought list four or five months ago was premature.
“We shouldn’t have been taken off the drought list,” he said. “Even though we had a fantastic season, it was because we had no stock.”
Grazier and Flinders Shire Mayor Jane Mcnamara said the recent rain would do wonders for her property, Abbotsford, and many others.
Cr Mcnamara hasn’t been able to get back to the homestead, about 87km south of Hughenden, this Australia Day weekend because it wasn’t the “done thing” for a mayor to go trudging through flooded areas.
Abbotsford was split in two, Cr Mcnamara said, with one half of the property affected by the floods last year and the other still drought declared.
She said it had been about eight years since that part of her property had decent rain.
“It’s been very lightly stocked because of the ongoing drought in that sector of the shire,” Cr Mcnamara said
With about 5000 sheep and 200 head of cattle on the property, the Mcnamaras will now be able to spread their herd more evenly across the property.
“This last lot of rain has just started to run water,” she said. “Our dam will be full with any further rain.”
Cr Mcnamara said her daughter, Anita, was looking after the property while she was away and said green shoots had started to come up – keeping the sheep very happy.
“The sheep will definitely be having a picnic as we speak. They just love the green little shoots,” she said.
Traeger MP Robbie Katter, said Mount Isa cattle farmers were also cheering for the rain.
Last year’s floods did just as much damage as they did good, he said, adding this rain was exactly what graziers had been hoping for.
“I think there was 80-100mm on Saturday and that went over the new bridge,” he said. “We’ve got water going into the dam.
“It’s been good for the cattle industry, everyone is getting pretty wound up about that.
It’s been a tough year for some of those people, they’re looking to the skies eagerly.”
Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Kimba Wong said while the weather event was helping many farmers, it was not “drought breaking”.
“We are looking at some pretty healthy rainfall across some drought-stricken catchments,” Ms Wong said.
“What we are looking at though is some multi-year deficiencies across wide parts of the state. While it’s a step in the right direction, it’s not drought breaking yet.”
Heavy rainfall has also closed the Mount Isa rail line.
All freight trains along the line have been stabled in dry places and the Inlander pass- enger train is on hold at Clon- curry.
A Queensland Rail spokeswoman said due to flooding in the Hughenden region, the Inlander was not being replaced by road coaches.
“Track inspection vehicles have been progressively inspecting sections of the line, where possible,” the spokeswoman said.
“However floodwaters will need to recede in areas until the full length of the line can be inspected – including at Prairie.”