Coping with Extreme Weather – Red Moon Sanctuary, Redmond, Western Australia
Two and a half weeks before we took this photo, on June 12, there was a hard frost that killed 80% of the kikuyu in the valley. Due to a dry start to the season, the legumes and ryegrass hadn’t got going properly yet, so overnight, the available paddock pick went down to nearly nothing. In common with other farmers in the valley, we partially de-stocked, immediately sending our two-year-old steers to market. This is the first lot we didn’t manage to grow out completely on pasture – that would have taken another six months including a spring flush. Feedlots buy feeder cattle under such circumstances. We’re not thrilled, but at least they won’t go hungry. We kept the yearling heifers and are supplementing them with our tree fodder (Tagasaste, Acacia saligna), bought-in oaten hay, and a day a week grazing in the lower tier of the garden, which didn’t get any frost. There they join the old gelding, who always eats his supplementary feed in the garden and who has the upper tier for fresh grass whenever he wants it.
Coping with Extreme Weather – Red Moon Sanctuary, Redmond, Western Australia
Two and a half weeks before we took this photo, on June 12, there was a hard frost that killed 80% of the kikuyu in the valley. Due to a dry start to the season, the legumes and ryegrass hadn’t got going properly yet, so overnight, the available paddock pick went down to nearly nothing. In common with other farmers in the valley, we partially de-stocked, immediately sending our two-year-old steers to market. This is the first lot we didn’t manage to grow out completely on pasture – that would have taken another six months including a spring flush. Feedlots buy feeder cattle under such circumstances. We’re not thrilled, but at least they won’t go hungry. We kept the yearling heifers and are supplementing them with our tree fodder (Tagasaste, Acacia saligna), bought-in oaten hay, and a day a week grazing in the lower tier of the garden, which didn’t get any frost. There they join the old gelding, who always eats his supplementary feed in the garden and who has the upper tier for fresh grass whenever he wants it.