But as former Department of Primary Industries and now central tablelands senior Local Land Services livestock officer Brett Littler commonly tells farmers “a plan, even if regularly adjusted, is far better than no plan and gives you a rational way forward if the drought continues”.
“Our central west Purlewaugh property drought plan, a predominately beef fattening business with 20 percent of the farm sown to dual purpose crops, includes a number of strategies.
“It is by no means a recommended plan but is an example of one to cope with unexpected and sometimes deepening droughts.
“Our strategy includes a mixture of crops and pasture types to as quickly as possible provide feed when the season breaks, stored hay from good seasons, maximising dry paddock feed quality, regular feed availability assessment, purchase cotton seed and destock at more or less planned times as the drought progresses.
“When a good break occurs and we can estimate feed availability we will restock as rapidly as is feasible.
“Thirty five percent of our property comprises tropical grasses that will provide feed, given rain, from mid-September onwards.
“Good groundcover is vital for capturing rain when it does occur and to help crops and pastures recover as fast as is possible.
“Knowing how much paddock feed is available helps enormously in making decisions like what level to supplement feed at and when to plan stock sell offs.
We have downsized 50 percent, based on feed budgeting estimates.
“Like many farmers I feel we were a bit late making some decisions like cotton seed purchase and sell-off scheduling.