“I was in a better situation, but now I’m not.”
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Michelle Phinn’s words could well sum up the position of many in the region, as the drought stretches on beyond expectations and long-ago decisions are questioned.
“Hindsight is always a good thing.”
Mrs Phinn and husband Darryn, who run 1500 acres between Carroll and Piallaway, sold off many of their cattle about eight months ago.
The prices were still good back then, and they had a bit of feed.
Now, they’re spending hours every day feeding and watering their 100 remaining cattle, working off the property as much as they can to pay the bills, and using every spare second trying to source the next lot of hay.
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“We have a little bit of standing feed right up in the hills, but there’s no water up there,” Mrs Phinn said.
“So we’re carting water – 6000 litres every day on a 4WD into the rugged country; 1000L up at a time because any more is too dangerous.”
Working hard for survival
She said the cattle were “holding”.
“We’ve just starting calving, so we’re trying to keep that energy up so they can push out their calf and feed a new mouth.
“They’re by no means fat. There’s some that are very poor and won’t walk the hills … so we just take food and water to them.”
Still, they had lost of couple despite their best efforts.
“I shot one yesterday that got stuck under a fence, trying to get some hay,” Mrs Phinn said.
“I thought it was alright, but it had a broken back and couldn’t move its legs.
“We haven’t had any drop dead from starvation, but we’re working pretty hard to keep them going.
“I’d hate to think how many hours we spend feeding and watering – six hours a day, at least.
“Then if you get something like that cow, you spend two, three hours try to get it out.”
‘Pretty blessed, really’
But – like so many others who have shared their experience of this drought – Mrs Phinn said they were “pretty blessed, really”.
Their youngest daughter Kezia, 12, who is homeschooled, is a big help when not doing her schoolwork: “She’s very passionate, loves the animals.”
They both have work as mechanics, so they have another source of income: “We have the option, whereas some full-time farmers, that’s their sole income and they’re a lot worse off than us.”
And because Mr Phinn’s work involves buying trucks from across the country, they have a way to transport their hay: “The truck’s coming through anyway, so pretty much wherever the trucks are coming from, that’s where we source it.”
Ironically, the Phinns – who, combined, have been on the land most of their lives – moved to their place only about five years ago, partly because of the climate.
“We were at Charleville before that, so we know what drought’s about,” she said.
“We thought we were moving to somewhere with a more stable environment.”
What the future holds
Mrs Phinn said “apart from the physical strain, we’re still doing alright” and “we’ll hold for as long as we can”.
“I’ve got a lot of mates who send me encouraging messages on a daily basis, really, saying, ‘Keep your chin up; it will rain’,” she said.
“A good friend of mine rang me yesterday to say she’d booked me in for a massage on Thursday … I get pretty sore from lifting, so it was a good gesture.
“That’s what our community is about, isn’t it? Helping the next bloke, trying to stay positive?
“[But] I don’t know how much longer we really want to do this for, it’s hard …
“You only do it because you love it – you wouldn’t do it for an income.”