Australian Ranchers Start Shooting Their Herds As Drought Goes On And On - Reuters

[hatrack]

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Cattleman Maurice Tully would love to return to his farm. He has been on the road searching for grass for his hungry stock for the past 13 months. His cattle have just calved and the cows are skinny, their bones push against tough hides, as they struggle to eat enough to feed their young and survive themselves.

For generations Australian cattlemen have moved their stock to the "Long Paddock", stock routes which run alongside country roads, at times of drought. Overnight dew or light rain on the road rolls to the edge and green shoots sprout. The feed doesn't last long in the searing heat, but is just enough for hungry livestock to survive on.

"We're just existing day by day. I can't raise money to feed these cattle," said Tully as he moved his cattle along William Hovell Drive, outside the national capital, Canberra. "I will continue until they are gone. The last thing I will do is sell the stock," he said. He knows that once the drought breaks, livestock prices will soar and he won't be able to afford to restock his farm. But while Tully and McKewon struggle to keep their livestock alive, cattlemen in the outback Northern Territory have begun shooting emaciated cattle they can no longer afford to feed.

Word of the shootings has travelled on the "bush telegraph" across Australia with cattlemen in the south hoping they won't be forced to do the same as their farms blow away in the hot wind. "Only a few days ago the evening breeze was gusty and blew so much dust off a neighbour's paddocks that you had to turn the car lights on. You couldn't see the front of the car," said farmer John Weatherstone in Yass, southwest of Sydney.

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http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/40159/story.htm

[phantom power]

1. Meanwhile, Howard is bravely saving them from the dangers of carbon taxation.

:banghead: