Dry times
Managing your land and stock during dry times
In dry times it is important to make risk management decisions early. Below are some useful links, tools and resources that you might need, to make the necessary management and financial decisions on farm, and most importantly to look after your mental health in tough times.
Dry times, livestock and farm finance
This series of fact sheets is for farmers to manage livestock and farm finances in dry seasons. They were produced by Primary Industries and Regions SA and the Department for Environment and Water with the support of MacKillop Farm Management Group and SheepConnect SA.
- Dry times management checklist for livestock business
- Livestock management options
- Feed budgeting in dry times
- Comparing the costs of feeds
- Calculating dry matter intakes for various classes of stock
- Dry matter versus as fed
- Calculating supplementary feed amounts – cattle
- Calculating supplementary feed amounts – sheep
- Basic ration diet formulations
- Ration formulation using the ‘Pearson Square’
Other publications
These publications can assist you with decision making and management during dry times.
Cattle
- Stock containment areas - more than a drought measure
- Setting up a containment area video
- Drought feeding and management of beef cattle - a guide for farmers and land managers
- Dry season management of a beef business – a guide to planning, managing and supplementary feeding
- Full hand feeding of beef cattle – quantities
- Supplementary feeding of cattle
- Cattle condition scoring video
- Feed requirements of cattle when the pasture is gone video
- What's left to eat - monitoring pasture video
Crops
Sheep
- Stock containment areas - more than a drought measure
- Setting up a containment area video
- Drought feeding and management of sheep - a guide for farmers and land managers
- Feeding and managing sheep in dry times
- Managing fodder prices for droughts - a sheep producer’s guide
- Managing sheep in drought lots - a best practice guide
- Stock water management - a limited resource
- Which sheep do I keep? - a guide for sheep producers in drought
- Sheep condition scoring video
- Feed requirements of sheep when the pasture is gone video
- What's left to eat - monitoring pasture video
- Climate and weather forecasting- Sheep Connect
Soil management
- Emergency measures to curb wind erosion - PIRSA
- Applying Technologies to everyday farming decisions: a dryland case study
- Post fire soil conservation demonstration case study
- Stabilising soil post fire video
Shelter
- The economic benefits of native shelter belts
- Planning and designing your shelterbelt video
- Shelter belt planting guide for livestock containment areas in low rainfall areas
Tools and calculators
Tools and calculatorsThese tools and calculators can help determine and predict feed demand and budgeting, stocking rates, livestock condition scoring, climate impacts, pasture growth rates, weather and climate forecasts.
- Feed budgeting calculator to compare cost of feeding, agisting or selling livestock (spreadsheet)
- Tools and calculators - Meat and Livestock Australia
- Tools for management - Lifetime Wool
- Water security - Coorong District Council
- Water and the land - Bureau of Meteorology
Confinement feeding videos
These videos, developed by Birchip Cropping Group, provide guidance on establishing and managing confinement feeding. The case studies were produced by Agriculture Victoria on farms which have established confinement feeding lots.
- Why should I build a containment area?
- How do I choose a location for a containment area?
- How to manage sheep in a containment area?
- How to make the transition out of a containment area?
- Farmer view - Why I established a containment are
- Confinement feeding case study - Trevor Robert’s story
- Confinement feeding case study - Lachlan Ralton’s story
- Long range weather and climate - Bureau of Meteorology
Support services
- Primary Industries and Regions SARural Financial Counselling Service
- Regional Mental HealthServices
- Beyond Blue
- Lifeline
Industry links - Livestock and crop management
The Drought Resilience Podcast
Listen to honest accounts of the drought from farming families in Orroroo, Eudunda and Keyneton. This podcast, produced in partnership with Talking Livestock and Voice it, features four South Australian sheep producers who have battled consecutive years of drought. Each interview reveals how they navigated their businesses and families through the financial and mental hardships, including practical coping strategies such as containment feeding. The Drought Resilience Podcast is supported by the Northern and Yorke Landscape Board, through funding from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund and National Landcare Program.
Episode 1: Georgie Keynes and Toby Rosensweig
Meet Georgie Keynes and Toby Rosenzweig. The drought coincided with the couple taking over management of the Keynes family’s historic sheep grazing property.
Dams went dry, water pipes were installed and sheep went into containment lots.
Listen: Spotify | Apple | Buzzsprout
Episode 2: Paul Schutz
“Further east of here there were Mallee trees dying. When you’ve got Mallee trees dying, you know it’s damn dry.” That’s Paul Schutz, Point Pass sheep farmer. The past four years have been the driest his family has ever experienced, but off-farm income, leasing property and containment feeding has got them through.
Listen: Spotify | Apple | Buzzsprout
Episode 3: John Nicholas
Meet 34-year-old John Nicholas from Orroroo. John’s been farming for 10 years, but about half of them have been in drought. Despite the challenging conditions, hear John’s optimism for the future, about his adventures breeding dorpers, moving back to merinos and his plans to crack into the EU market.
Listen: Spotify | Apple | Buzzsprout
Episode 4: Jim and Sam Keurschner
Jim and Sam Keurschner run a sheep and cropping operation at Blackrock near Orroroo and say it’s been the worst drought in living memory. But they’ve got through by using strategies like containment feeding which has helped them maintain most of their flock. Discover other ways they’ve dealt with the drought, including how they’ve coped with the mental hardships.
Listen: Spotify | Apple | Buzzsprout