Wet weather costing Tas farmers millions

Torrential rain in the last week and heavy falls over the last three months in Tasmania have played havoc on its 3600 farms with potential agricultural losses running into millions of dollars.

The Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association (TFGA) this morning made a comprehensive survey of the impact across the state and, according to chief executive Jan Davis and president Wayne Johnston, it is serious.

Of particular concern is the damage to recent plantings and the expected delay in later planting this spring, perhaps too late.

The survey found the wet weather is a disaster for cereal and poppy crops. Wheat sown in the autumn is water logged. Farmers can’t plant barley.

The window for planting poppies closes in mid-October. The poppy companies say they may extend by two weeks, but plantings can only extend to the end of October if paddocks are dry enough to access.

Slugs are a big problem for planted poppies; farmers can’t get in to paddocks to scatter slug pellets. Existing crops could be wiped out.

“Livestock producers are way behind with planting fodder crops like rape, which means they won’t be able to turn lambs out in early January,” Mr Johnston said.

“If they are able to get the crops planted by late October it will put things back a month. They won’t be able to put the lambs onto the rape until the end of January and this will affect farm budgets and cash-flows.”

Ms Davis said this was the bottom line: the rain and wild weather had delayed all farm activities affecting farm incomes.

The survey found considerable lamb losses in the last 72 hours but not as bad as might have been expected.

Mr Johnston, who runs Pleasant Park at Meander, said lambing could be down by as much as 20 per cent after weaning because of the wet weather through August and September.

“The biggest problem we have is feed and health,” he said.

“Stock are not doing well. Cows and ewes were light going into spring lambing and calving. They should be picking up condition now but the wet weather has stopped any spring grass growth.

“Farmers have used up winter hay supplies, which is generally replaced by good spring grass growth. But grass growth is not happening because it’s too wet; there is no sunshine to kick growth off.”

He said the wet ground also meant farmers could not put out grain to ewes and lambs because the paddocks were too wet.

“You would lose probably 50 per cent of the grain soaking in to the ground anyway. Basically, it is not an option,” he said.

Ms Davis said the TFGA was getting reports of new-born lambs suffering navel infections. The weather had caused more mis-mothering in sheep flocks, leading to more lamb losses because they were starving and dying.

Rye grasses were full of moisture rather than nutrients, leading to mastitis in beef cows.

“Farmers are saying they have not seen it like this for 40 years,” Ms Davis said.
TFGA chief executive Jan Davis