Wet season up in Northern Australia

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Australian Cattleman

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Tenterfield,New England Region NSW,Australia
The tropical north of Queensland have just started their monsoon season. Many parts of coastal and inland Queensland are flooded. Some parts have had up to 30 or so inches in the past week. Meteorolgy people are keeping an eye on a tropical low in the gulf of Carpentaria which may be classed as a cyclone later today.The inland of Queensland is flooded which can take up to three months to get down into Lake Eyre in the dry northern part of South Australia. We are still nice and green at our place but more rain wouldn't go astray.
Colin
 
yes thats right 30 inches. they expect that amount in their proper wet season.most of the northern Queenslanders would be loving it. the only ones that wouldn't be would be travellers blocked by floodwaters.some parts of coastal north Queensland have 200+ inches in a normal wet year,especially an area around Tully just south of Cairns,it scores the Golden Gumboot award for the wettest part of Australia most years.I belive it has or is going to get a large gumboot statue at its entrance. Some Australian towns have "large statues at their entrances or nearby,heres a few to think about,
Big Banana,4 big bulls (Brahman,Braford,Santa Gertrudis and Droughtmaster) these are at the four entry points to Rockhampton the beef capital of Australia,a big Orange,abig Apple,a big Pineapple,a big Fish,a big Prawn and a big Merino Sheep and there is talk about a town in our state erecting a large Pig. Usually these statues are symbols of an industry that is relevant to the area. They can be a tourist drawcard.
Colin :D
 
I wish we got some of that rain down here!!! It's raining heavily down to about Mackay.

I've been to the big pineapple, it's smaller than I thought it'd be though, it's still big though.
 
Colin

I just read an article on Reuters about the drought down there. Is it as bad as they said. They wre talking about livestock being shot because no feed and that they wouldn't survive anyway.
 
Yes the drought has and is atrocious. There are areas that livestock have had to be destroyed. There has been suicides when the landholders have taken cattle to market and then not being able to sell them and then not being able to pay for the transport home or to meatworks. Our big hearted government (tongue in cheek I might add) have decided to pay for anyone in those circumstances to cover the cost of the livestock transport. What they should be doing is to pay landholders that do have plenty of grass,agistment for any affected landholder that doesn't have grass, and then return the cattle (or whatever) when things get better,so that the farmer/landholder has something to start with when the drought breaks.
Water is one of Australia's greatest problems because we are the driest place in the world. Some of our coastal rivers need to be diverted to our dry inland which would boost this country enormously. Generally Australian's are a very helpful to each other people,but there are still greedy people out there that don't want to share their abundant water.
Colin
 
There a few months ago a pen of twenty sheep was selling for $1 - not $1 per sheep but $1 for the whole pen. We had a dairy farmer take all his cattle into the yards, they told him to leave cos they wouldn't sell, so he took them back home, shot them and then shot himself. Lately the demand has increased for good young cattle and prices are low but consistent. But we still have no feed and no water.
 
Spent 20 years in the US Navy and seen a LOT of different places around the world. Australia was one of the few I actually wanted to go visit and ironically one of the few I couldn't manage to get to.

If I ever get to take a real vacation thats where I'm headed, although I think I'm gonna avoid the drought stricken areas and places receiving 30 inches of rain per week :eek:
 
Saltydawg":w36ugh6b said:
If I ever get to take a real vacation thats where I'm headed, although I think I'm gonna avoid the drought stricken areas and places receiving 30 inches of rain per week :eek:

Better leave out the whole country then, cause it's either one or the other.
 
I don't understand why your cattle aren't worth anything? Your a big player in the world market. Hamburger cattle in the US sell for 45. to 50. dollars per hundred. [culls less] A large portion of our commercial beef comes from Australia at a competitive price. and Australia is the major supplier of beef to the Pacific Rim Countries.

So can you explain why producers aren't getting anything for their cattle?
 
Cattle buyers hold cattle producers to ransom in our country. There is so much variability in prices received from one selling centre to another,We have our local yards about 10 kilometres away,another 70 ks away another two about 110 ks away. All of these vary so much. A man that does our carrying for us purchased cattle at our local yards and resold them two days later at Warwick,Queensland and made an average of $160 a head on them. The cost was a bit of fuel and a couple of bales of hay. Cows and calves down south of our state can make $1100 to $1200 in our area you are doing well to get $950. Same quality etc etc.
Getting back to the weather side of things.
Rain rain and more rain in storms in the central part of our state and on the south coast of our state. 12+ inches in downpours,washed countless numbers of sheep and cattle away as well as fences. These storms have also caused lightning strikes resulting in bushfires.
Talking to a friend of mine form the Atherton Tableand in far north Queensland a couple of days ago,he received 22 inches in a couple days about a week ago. A man down the road recieved 20 inches in 20 hours. Grass is so high that he has to slash it to keep it under control.Colin
 

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