FORTUNES have changed for livestock producers in the Orange district over the last few weeks with steady rain breaking the cycle of costly hand feeding.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Some sheep and cattle producers had resorted to de-stocking to help them through drought-like conditions.
Belgravia farmer Conrad Strahorn was hand-feeding his Angus breeding stock for several weeks and says the turnaround with 29 millimetres falling on his property since Sunday night is welcome.
“Just as recently as the 14th of February we were hand feeding, but since then we’ve had good rain,” he said.
And the trend is set to continue with more rain expected every day this week through until Friday.
Mr Strahorn said the initial rain contributed to 12 centimetres of feed sprouting for stock.
“But we decided to keep them off [cattle] and hand feed for a little longer and were buying in supplementary feed,” he said.
Unlike some of his counterparts in other areas of the state hard-hit by drought conditions, Mr Strahorn didn’t have to send any cattle for sale.
Residents shouldn’t leave home without an umbrella again today with a few showers predicted followed by storms.
Tomorrow NSW Bureau of Meteorology staff predict a few showers during the day however on Thursday it is expected to rain most of the day.
In the lead-up to the weekend a few showers are predicted for Friday with possible showers on Saturday and Sunday clearing to sunny weather next Monday.
From 9am on Sunday to 9am yesterday morning 20mm of rain was recorded.
