Flooding Rain

So much for attending the Drought Feeding seminar. It must have been the catalyst for the downpour of 250 mm we received in 48 hours. It started in the middle of the night and while I snored Jean ran around the veranda moving vulnerable items out of the way. It kept up all night and part of the day coming in waves.

The wine cellar has a sump pump but it couldn't handle the volume.



Notice the high tide mark

Fortunately apart from some label damage the wine will be unaffected by the submersion.

After lunch the sun came out and the so did the bees. It looks they had do perform some catch up.

Today we tested the sprouted grain feed on the cattle. They were unimpressed. We added some molasses and water to the grain and then mixed it with some Lucerne. Although they consumed some of the grain they really weren't interested. It may be the strange smell of molasses that is throwing them off. Tomorrow we will try without molasses.

The grain mixed with Lucerne

We attended our work property across the river early in the morning to make sure the cattle were ok. The weaners were stranded in a corner of a paddock above a flooded internal creek and we were able to move them to high ground with plenty of food. Access was only from the neighbouring property.

The cows and calves were fine but they were also moved to high ground with additional food.

The Williams River was up and the paddocks adjacent the river had already gone under. These paddocks will be out of order for a couple of weeks at least with mud covering the foliage. Although the drought has broken for the moment we will still be short of feed and whichever paddock we put the animals into will suffer pugging.

 

The river encroaching as I sit in the RTV

The gates lead into the paddocks the cows and calves were due to be in this week.