Queensland graziers pushed to the brink as feed runs dry

Drought cripples large swathes of southern Queensland amid severe hay shortage In short: Vast areas of south-west Queensland are depleted following official drought declarations across four local council areas last month. Producers are shipping feed hundreds of kilometres, graziers are destocking, and water sources are drying up. What's next? Rural fire brigades are conducting hazard reduction burns across south-west Queensland as the country braces for the upcoming bushfire season. For the first time in his 28-year career, Greg Finlay's hay sheds are empty. Mr Finlay, a 58-year-old mixed cattle and crop farmer near Texas, a small Queensland border town about 300 kilometres south-west of Brisbane, said he had always managed to keep bales in stock. But the prolonged period of below-average rainfall was starting to bite for much of the region. Much of southern Queensland, which includes an area roughly twice the size of Belgium, has been drought declared for the first time in two years. Queensland entered its last major drought in 2013, with areas of the state remaining drought-stricken until 2024. For many, those years in drought still run deep. The impacted area includes the Balonne, Goondiwindi, Southern Downs and parts of Maranoa, where some primary producers have begun to sell their animals. "There've been people destocking for a while now as the drought's worn on," Mr Finlay said. He said others have put their animals on agistment further south where conditions were more favourable. It comes as the Bureau of Meteorology's climate outlook for September suggests below-average rainfall could be experienced across the south and east of the nation and daytime temperatures are likely to be above average south of the tropics. Mr Finlay said his property had received 167 millimetres of rain for the year so far, compared to a 650mm annual rainfall average. He said it meant he had only been able to produce about 40 per cent of the hay he usually would, and producers were shipping hay in from Victoria, South Australia and north Queensland to feed their animals. Mr Finlay said the memories of the recent drought between 2012 and 2020 remained fresh. He said there was only 30 per cent of the livestock left by the end of the eight years. "I think there's probably a lot of PTSD and people are worried about this," he said. "They don't trust that these are short-lived events. "We are noticing extremes in what happens with our climates, extreme wet, extreme dry." River stops running Further inland near the outback town of Surat, grazier Keith Allwood works on several properties in the Maranoa and St George regions and said most of the cattle farmers he knew were all feeding their cattle because there was very little to graze on. "It's not just the stock, it's the farmers. They haven't got the rain to plant, or if they did plant, some of the crops just come to nothing," he said. "It will take a long time for the feed to come back." One of the region's major rivers, the Balonne River, recently stopped running and Mr Allwood said it was the first time in more than five years. "It'll be bad, and the dryer it gets, the harder it's going to be to get feed,"he said. Impacts on local wildlife Wildlife carers are also struggling with an influx of animals as nearby creeks dry up and food sources become more scarce. Wildlife Empire Rescue and Rehabilitation in Inglewood, north-west of Texas, rescues injured and orphaned wildlife. The centre's director, Tennille Bankes, said they were seeing more kangaroos injured on roads as they travelled further to find food and water. She said it was getting harder by the week to care for the animals, as there was no access to hay in the area. With limited access to feed, staff have had to go out and pick their own hay and grass. "We're very, very concerned about the impacts of the drought," she said. "When the land isn't providing for the animals, we're having to provide for the animals." Fire threat Rural fire brigades have been conducting hazard-reduction burns in preparation for the upcoming bushfire season, as the dry conditions pose a potential risk. Scrubby Creek Rural Fire Brigade volunteer Dennis Dwyer said crews had less time to conduct hazard-reduction burns after a long, hot summer season. "This year was a shorter window by far, and it's going to close very soon, I imagine," he said.