Showing posts with label drought. Show all posts
Showing posts with label drought. Show all posts
Monday, December 16, 2019
Egg prices set to rise because of drought
It will be a tough year for egg farmers with feed prices going through the roof as a result of drought conditions throughout Australia. Rising costs and falling sales are likely to send some big producers broke as they rely on sales to supermarkets who set their own benchmark prices to maximise returns for their businesses. Genuine free range farmers with low stocking densities should fare better as they usually sell direct to customers and set their own prices.Also, hens able to range freely obtain around half their feed from the paddocks where they roam.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Great rain in South Gippsland
We've had a couple of days with great rain - not too heavy with around 25 mm on Sunday and Monday. Even though the nights are getting fairly cool we should still get some good grass growth because we don't get many frosts here in winter.
Some years we don't get frosts at all - and this may be one of those years. One of the plum trees near the old house on the property has decided to start flowering - so it obviously thinks it's Spring!
The dogs aren't too happy with the rain, preferring to sit around under cover. And some of the hens are wondering what the wet stuff is. The new flock is just 20 weeks old and they've never seen rain.
Some years we don't get frosts at all - and this may be one of those years. One of the plum trees near the old house on the property has decided to start flowering - so it obviously thinks it's Spring!
The dogs aren't too happy with the rain, preferring to sit around under cover. And some of the hens are wondering what the wet stuff is. The new flock is just 20 weeks old and they've never seen rain.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Drought is still an Aussie Problem
The farm is still in the midst of drought. I've never seen the paddocks so dry and I'm just so thankful that we sold off most of our cattle eighteen months ago.
If we had tried to keep them, we would be in such financial strife because the end is still not in sight.
An uncle of my wife always used to say that he couldn't sleep at night unless he had three years of hay in the shed. So the problems we are having now are not new!
The drought keeps pushing up the cost of grain which means we have to increase the price of our free range eggs - but at some point it seems likely that we won't have any water for the hens or for us. Our tanks have around 40,000 litres left - so we are anxiously looking at the sky (and the barometer) for any signs of rain.
If we had tried to keep them, we would be in such financial strife because the end is still not in sight.
An uncle of my wife always used to say that he couldn't sleep at night unless he had three years of hay in the shed. So the problems we are having now are not new!
The drought keeps pushing up the cost of grain which means we have to increase the price of our free range eggs - but at some point it seems likely that we won't have any water for the hens or for us. Our tanks have around 40,000 litres left - so we are anxiously looking at the sky (and the barometer) for any signs of rain.
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