THE year has been traumatic. Nothing unusual, most people will say, but a year that offered so much promise turned into a nightmare for some and a headache for most.
I wrote in June about the near-freakish nature of autumn rainfall patterns and the cumulative rainfall figures certainly flattered traditionally marginal areas. At the time, Mount Gambier topped the figures, but Eudunda running a narrow second was a shock and semi-arid centres such as Hawker and Port Augusta and the Mallee's Loxton had recorded substantially more rain than Keith, Naracoorte, or Padthaway.
This was of course a point of much joy for those receiving the rain, and crops were sown with gay abandon. Then July arrived and the rain did not, nor in August, September or October. Then to add insult to injury, large areas of the state were affected by frosts that wreaked havoc across a broad range of crops.
Dire predictions were the order of the day, and hapless farmers had little option than to see the season through, cut for hay or to graze standing crops. From my understanding, many opted to see the season through and take their chances.
I cannot report for all areas, but in the north it seems as though hay and grain results have come as a pleasant surprise and yields did not plummet to the depths that some producers feared.
It has been an odd year for livestock producers. Beef cattle prices have been depressed, to say the least, except for a short time during the spring when for some obscure reason prices for export cattle went through the proverbial roof.
I recall being at a Mount Gambier sale and feeling rather nonplussed when Friesian manufacturing steers sold in the mid-$1.70s a kilogram, then to top things off processors paid up to $1.80/kg for secondhand cows. The ridiculous nature of the situation became even more stark when prime yearling steers and heifers were returning $1.40-$1.70/kg at the same sale.
The fortunes for lamb producers were a lot brighter - demand for lambs throughout late summer, autumn and winter was very nearly spectacular. When I sold a few tail-end lambs in June I got something of a kick out of receiving $190, despite thinking they should have made $200.
Early sucker lambs were the order of the day as spring approached, and values were high. I for one could not believe that the price would last and that as numbers arrived in the marketplace buyers would ease back as the flush hit properly.
The flush of numbers never did occur, and producers were rewarded with average carcase prices about $1/kg above the 2013 mark for the same period.
The positive news is the resounding successes of the annual feature sales. First-cross ewe sales exceeded the wildest imaginations of most pundits. Cattle weaner sales have been buoyant despite challenging climatic conditions, and flock ram sales have been very solid.
Drought throughout the country was the real downside to the year. Qld livestock producers in particular went through ever more pain and the national beef herd dwindled, grazier suicide was and is, a major problem. If anyone has any more Christmas wishes left, make them in favour of the poor buggers who are going through the anguish of this once-in-a-lifetime event.
