Some warm weather and sunshine would be lovely.
Really.
We are now removing the milking cows from the Kerang farm back to Lake Boga because of the flood potential, the likelihood of isolation and having no milk pickups.
It’s quite difficult having to make important decisions but not being able to access good information.
The bush telegraph, on the other hand, is an amazing thing. Farmers I would rarely talk to are now, by virtue of checking-in with each other almost daily for updates, are people I talk to more than some good mates and family members.
All in the need to get the most reliable and accurate information, particularly from farmers upstream about what’s coming.
And clearly, it’s significant.
At this point, with the information I have, my gut is telling me the Kerang farm will sneak through – although you look pretty stupid if you get it wrong.
The consequences are high if I call it wrong and Sally says (bless me) I have a history of being wildly optimistic; so the girls are coming home.
Access for milk trucks is also a problem at the moment, with many of the connecting bridges at Echuca and Rochester, Kerang and Elmore closed and we have been advised to expect to tip some milk out (it’s such a waste, but there is no time for crying over spilt milk). Hopefully it’s short term.
We have been having trouble feeding the cows properly, as the feed-pad area is too wet and a no-go zone, and the fully-loaded mixer (between the tractor, the mixer and the feed in the mixer, it’s about 30 tonnes) is a challenge to pull around muddy paddocks.
The cows are getting fully fed on grass, but some of the extras, such as the minerals and the buffers, are added through the mixer and we have only been able to do it two days out of the past seven, so we have been watching for health repercussions. But our options are limited.
We have put dry cows and some calves on one of my best barley crops ever, as we may as well eat what we can before it goes under. The dairy and most of the houses should be safe, whatever happens.
Floods upstream higher in the catchments happen fast, for us on the floodplain it is a marathon.
The Loddon peak was still coming as I wrote this. Then it will take at week to 10 days to get from Kerang to the Lower Loddon and into the Little Murray to us.
Dad always says we can usually handle a high Murray, the real challenges for us are when the Loddon and Avoca (we’re between them) are in flood and trying to get into the Murray, which is also in flood.
In 2011 we were lucky the Murray was not that high. We did have a bank break on the Avoca floodway and we were saved by some extraordinary work on a digger by Dale Whitield.
We had two diggers working up to their bellies in water and we were losing badly, so Dale jumped on one and blocked a significant breach with a telephone pole and some hay bales – it was a remarkable effort.
A big thankyou to everyone who has reached out with support in the past week or so and apologies if I have not responded, we are flat out in preparation, but the reality is we are under no threat for at least another week.
Best wishes, however, to everyone who is being affected at the moment.
