"JennyC" wrote in message
"Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow wrote
We own one farm which we bought specifically to drought proof
ourselves. It got about 50 inches of rain a year when we bought
it
about 14 years ago but that would be under 30 inches now

What do you farm ?
Cattle, kangaroos ?

Angus cattle. And we support far too many kangaroos and feral pigs.
We used to have a mob of about 15 kangaroos which stayed in one of the
back paddocks. Nice to have around, but the drought brought roos in
from everywhere and at one stage they were like locusts. I even had 2
big buck roos which were coming into the garden but I fixed that.

I've actually had 2 friends been attacked by big buck roos right in
their gardens. And they drown dogs by going into dams and when the
dog swims after then they push them under the water with their front
paws till they drown. Can be a bit nasty.

"Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow wrote in message
...
"JennyC" wrote in message
"Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow wrote
We own one farm which we bought specifically to drought proof
ourselves. It got about 50 inches of rain a year when we bought
it
about 14 years ago but that would be under 30 inches now

What do you farm ?
Cattle, kangaroos ?

Angus cattle. And we support far too many kangaroos and feral pigs.
We used to have a mob of about 15 kangaroos which stayed in one of the
back paddocks. Nice to have around, but the drought brought roos in
from everywhere and at one stage they were like locusts. I even had 2
big buck roos which were coming into the garden but I fixed that.

I've actually had 2 friends been attacked by big buck roos right in
their gardens. And they drown dogs by going into dams and when the
dog swims after then they push them under the water with their front
paws till they drown. Can be a bit nasty.

Is hunting allowed? IF so are they good to eat?
Jenny (not a vegetarian!)

"Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow wrote
We own one farm which we bought specifically to drought proof
ourselves. It got about 50 inches of rain a year when we bought
it
about 14 years ago but that would be under 30 inches now
"JennyC" wrote in message
What do you farm ?
Cattle, kangaroos ?
Farm1 writes
Angus cattle. And we support far too many kangaroos and feral pigs.
We used to have a mob of about 15 kangaroos which stayed in one of the
back paddocks. Nice to have around, but the drought brought roos in
from everywhere and at one stage they were like locusts. I even had 2
big buck roos which were coming into the garden but I fixed that.

I've actually had 2 friends been attacked by big buck roos right in
their gardens. And they drown dogs by going into dams and when the
dog swims after then they push them under the water with their front
paws till they drown. Can be a bit nasty.


Cattle - Presumably they need almost as much rainfall as arable, for the
grazing...

I suppose there's no way you can keep roos out - or only at enormous
cost! But roo meat is supposed to be low in cholesterol...
Are the feral pigs palatable?

Daughter's partner has been working as environmental officer on a mixed
organic farm here - and their boreholes have all had to be extended this
summer. Fortunately the new willingness to pay a bit more for organic
kept them going through the current mess.

--
Klara, Gatwick basin

"JennyC" wrote in message
...
"Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow wrote in message

kangaroos

Is hunting allowed?

In limited circumstances and too much administration to bother.

IF so are they good to eat?

I don't think so but it is very low fat and needs a good chef to do
properly. Give me a good bit of beef any day.

"Klara" wrote in message
"Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow wrote

Angus cattle. And we support far too many kangaroos and feral
pigs.

Cattle - Presumably they need almost as much rainfall as arable, for
the
grazing...

Angus being of good Scots origins seem to cope resonably well here (as
do the Herefords which I prefer but butchers don't for some reason).

There are (sort of) 2 classes of animal farms in Aus. Cattle do
better where rainfall is better (which isn't necessarily arable as you
would know it in the UK - your land is far better in general than
ours - our soils tend to be ancient and depleted). The other land is
generally in wheat/sheep country - hot, dry and inland.

I suppose there's no way you can keep roos out - or only at enormous
cost!

They really can clear a 6 ft fence but they prefer to go under fences
for some reason. I haven't had a problem with them in the garden
since I got rid of one of the big buck males.

But roo meat is supposed to be low in cholesterol...

Yes it is and no signs of visible fat at all but it needs to come from
very young roos and to be thin and quickly cooked and needs a more
skilled cook than I am. I'm not a bad cook but can't do roo meat at
all well.

Are the feral pigs palatable?

Yes I believe so but I've never tried them. Some of them are sold to
Germany where apparently the odd bit of skin and hairs in the
packaging are acceptable as proof that it's from wild pigs.

Daughter's partner has been working as environmental officer on a
mixed
organic farm here - and their boreholes have all had to be extended
this
summer. Fortunately the new willingness to pay a bit more for
organic
kept them going through the current mess.

Good to know that people are prepared to pay for organic food. Our
bore dried up about 3 years ago but we have good dams that luckily
have managed to provide us with water all through the drought.

In message , JennyC
writes
Went a googling and found these:
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/drought/livedrought.shtml
http://www.bom.gov.au/lam/climate/le...hc/drought.htm

Al Gore's film might also be of interest (on a wider scale)....
http://www.climatecrisis.net/

Finally found time to read these - thanks, Jenny.

I suppose the one bit of silver lining one can cull from this is that
there have been droughts for centuries, so maybe hope can always spring
eternal....


--
Klara, Gatwick basin

"Martin" wrote in message
We eventually gave up, as neither of us could stay
awake, and spent a night in Hahndorf, where we served with food by
sweaty Australians wearing lederhosen.

I was there a few weeks ago. Nice but too touristy to want to spend
more than a few hours.

We did the same trip last year
and there was hardly a time when there was no other traffic,
especially very big trucks.

But a lot less scary than the trucks on some of those narrow British
roads TMWOT. The trucks in Sth Wales scared the crap out of me :-))

Incidentally have you looked at Oz as seen from Google Earth
recently
As far as I can see, all the photos are new and in high resolution.

I've briefly seen them on a friends machine and it's very impressive,
but my machine is ancient and I don't have access to broadband (rotten
country lines) etc, etc.