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Sheep flock dwindling
17 Oct 2007
Years of drought have driven the Australian sheep flock to its lowest level in 82 years. The flock is now 87 million but is expected to fall by another 1 million this year. The flock has been as high as 174 million in 1969-1970 and again in 1989-90. The president of WoolProducers, Don Hamblin, said that several consecutive years of drought have left farmers with no cash reserves and fodder prices have been pushed to record highs. "People can't afford to feed the whole of their flock. We could see massive slaughterings of good breeding stock, core breeding stock, because there is no other choice," said Mr Hamblin. The number of lambs sold last month was 17 per cent above the September average according to the National Livestock Reporting Service.
The Australian, 17/10/2007
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