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THE FULL toll of the Hunter area’s agricultural losses will take months to work out as shell-shocked farmers count the cost of last week’s floods.
Beef producers, dairy and oyster farmers, poultry sheds, wineries, horse studs and fishing boats were hit.
Not one primary industry was spared.
At least five fishing boats were lost in storms and many more damaged in the Port Stephens area.
Local Land Services (LLS) said there could be more than 500 cattle dead from the floods.
Early estimates of the costs run into the millions.
A major issue for beef and dairy cattle is the lack of pasture after floodwaters wiped out established and just-sown forage crops.
Farmers do not expect to have feed until October at the earliest and are contemplating a winter of hand feeding.
Hunter LLS general manager Brett Miners said the focus had now shifted to long-term pasture losses.
“Once plants are inundated for three to six days they suffer serious long-term damage,” he said.
“For kikuyu pastures this will mean no feed until September or October, and for native pastures, October or November.
“Anything freshly sown was all drowned within the first one to two days.”
The emergency response included dropping 14.3 tonnes of hay to feed 540 cattle, 114 horses and 12 camels each day.
“The emergency fodder drops wound down over the weekend and earlier this week, but we’re still doing surveillance,” Mr Miners said.
“We’re still checking areas of standing water.
“There are still 7000 hectares under water, so we’re really just doing the initial damage assessment now.”
At least 417 stock carcases have been found, but the LLS believed the final number would be much higher.
“It’s hard to know what the number is but if we’ve got 417 confirmed carcases, it could be double that amount,” Mr Miners said.
“Of course we don’t expect to find every carcase – many of them will be out in the ocean.”
LLS crews have been working closely with producers to provide specialised gear to assist the burial of dead stock.
Courtesy of theland.com.au
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