FAR north Queensland has not escaped the ravages of Mother Nature, with three-quarters of Mareeba Shire and parts of the normally wet Cape York Peninsula drought declared.
Kowanyama, Pormpuraaw and parts of Cook Shire were added to the official drought declaration list last month, leaving the coastal local government areas of Cairns, Cassowary Coast and Douglas, Tablelands and the far north east and west coasts of Cape York drought free – for the time being.
In Mareeba Shire, the area west of the Mulligan Highway, Hurricane, Kondaparinga and Mt Mulligan Roads to Dimbulah, the Burke Developmental Road to Petford and the Petford-Herberton Road to the shire boundary, is drought declared.
Elders Mareeba Livestock Agent Mark Peters, who sells cattle from across the far north at the weekly Mareeba Sale, said there had been no significant rainfall event to change the current outlook.
“Water is becoming a real issue,” Mr Peters said. “It was an issue six to eight months ago but is progressively getting worse week by week.
“Blokes that have access to good river systems are in digging holes in the sand to make soak so cattle have got clean water to go into.
“As that dries up there is more pressure on so there’s more of those extraordinary jobs to maintain every week.”
Mr Peters said despite the poor weather conditions, the cattle market had been strong.
“The year has been unusual in that there is lot of demand for meat product, whether it be for live export, domestically or export slaughter,” Mr Peters said.
The region’s cropping and horticultural growers, too, are feeling the pinch, with a return to the region’s traditional wet season badly needed to replenish ground water supplies. Farmers are currently heavily reliant on irrigation, from groundwater sources, rivers and the man-made Tinaroo Dam which is at 67.2 per cent capacity.
