Drought hammers farmers in Australia

A CRIPPLING drought is ravaging vast tracts of Australia’s pastoral heartlands, decimating herds and putting desperate farmers under intense financial and emotional strain, with little relief in sight.

While the country is no stranger to “big drys” and its people have long had a reputation as resilient, the extreme conditions across swathes of Australia’s east are the worst in more than 50 years.

A smattering of rain earlier this week did little to ease one of the driest starts to the year on record, turning pastures to dust and destroying huge areas of grazing and crop lands.

With no feed, farmers have been forced to ship in grain or hay from other parts of the country to keep sheep and cattle alive, spending thousands of extra dollars a week just to stay afloat.

Some exhausted graziers spend hours each day handfeeding their stock because the ground is too dry for grass to grow. Others have been forced to shoot starving cattle.

“They are shooting their stock because they don’t want them to suffer. They are shooting them because they just can’t afford to feed them anymore,” Tash Johnston, co-founder of charity Drought Angels, said.

Farmers have also had to ration water for their families and their herds because the dams on their properties are dry or nearly empty.

Many face the prospect of abandoning their homes altogether — some after being on the land for generations.

Australia’s weather bureau has warned there is no end in sight and the Red Cross has set up a relief appeal, while the Salvation Army is distributing food hampers.