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Australian Tamworth Show campdraft and dairy cattle section cancelled due to drought


The Tamworth Show campdraft won’t go ahead as a result of drought conditions.

DRY CONDITIONS have forced the Tamworth Show team to cancel the campdraft and dairy cattle section.

In one of the most severe droughts the state has seen, dairy farmers especially are struggling to keep food up to cattle.

Tamworth Pastoral and Agricultural Association president Greg Townsend said farmers in intensive industry are having to spend their time wisely.

“The poor old dairy farmers are flat out feeding cows so the general public can pay $1 for milk, it’s cheaper than water – it really needs to be highlighted,” he said.

“If you’ve been in one of those intensive industries it’s a lot of work, with the consistency of the workload you can’t leave and shut the door.”

It’s the first year the Tamworth Show will be held at the AELEC, a big part of the move was to open up opportunities for cattle and equine competitions.

Juleanwes Holstein dairy farmer Wes Brown said had it rained it would have been a different story.

“There’s people that were only going to show heiffers because the cows aren’t in good enough form to show people because of how the season is,” he said.

For him, the saddest thing is locals not seeing where their produce comes from.

“People want to know where their milk comes from, I’m talking about kids two and three years old, they need to see that sort of thing,” he said.

“If they start getting it from overseas – that’s the part that worries me, whereas we’re clean and green here and they can see where their produce comes from.”

In the past, cattle events have been huge in Tamworth because it’s a productive area for livestock.

But, with hay and fodder becoming increasingly hard to find across the state, the condition of some cattle deteriorates, leaving farmers unable to enter them into campdraft competitions.

Mr Townsend estimates 75 to 85 per cent of campdrafts across the state have had to be canned as a result of the drought.

“The campdrafting was cancelled because of the availability of cattle, it’s already difficult because we have such a high turnover,” he said. 

“The Show will go on, there’s lots still happening, it will be back next year or when it rains.”

 

Source: The Northern Daily Leader


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