NSW farmers take up tree lopping to feed drought-stricken cattle
Malcolm Donaldson’s Boggabri property has seen few drops of rain and like many others has been handfeeding stock.
He has lopped 600 trees since May, and now only has three weeks of cutting left.
"It is use them or lose them," he said.
"We estimate we have got another two to three weeks of lopping, the window is closing quite quickly now because during December the trees will start dropping their leaf and putting new leaf out."
Many of Mr Donaldson’s neighbours have also undertaken lopping.
Luckily though, the kurrajong leaves have proved a winner with the cattle, being very palatable.
"That said, just getting the physical quantity into cattle is a big thing," Mr Donaldson explained.
"You wake up every morning knowing that sometime during the day you are going to be scared," Mr Donaldson said.
"When I first left school we were using tomahawks and I’ve got a scar on my leg to prove it," Mr Donaldson pointed out.
"My father reckoned it would be common for people to be in the drought hobbling up and down the main street because they all cut themselves with tomahawks."