Despite some good falls of rain across the Central Tablelands at the end of January, it’s likely to be business as usual for most landholders, with significant follow up rain needed before seasonal conditions improve substantially.
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Canowindra has received 78mm of rain so far this year, much better than some areas with 30 millimetres recorded at Bathurst and Orange, 41mm at Oberon, 51mm at Cowra, 53mm at Mudgee and 80mm at Lithgow, according to Bureau of Meteorology figures for the seven days to February 26.
The rainfall was patchy in places, particularly in the north east of the region, so there were landholders who missed out, according to Central Tablelands Local Land Services Regional Veterinarian Bruce Watt.
“Even for those people who were under the storms, given we’ve just come out of an extremely dry summer, it’s going to take some time and follow up rain before we start seeing a good body of feed in the paddocks,” he said.
“Many farmers will still be providing supplementary feed to stock while we wait for pastures to improve, and that’s a smart strategy with stock prices remaining strong.”
“For farmers looking for advice on getting the right nutrition at a cost effective price, there are some excellent apps and calculators to help plan rations and take the guess work out of supplementary feeding. There’s also a lot of very useful information online on the NSW Department of Primary Industries DroughtHub website.”
For advice landholders should contact their nearest Central Tablelands Local Land Services office in Cowra.