The drought..

[VPS]

It’s in the way you look at things. Stock are not pets. There is no room for keeping non producing animals - can’t afford it. We had a small flock of killer sheep to provide most meat and even the chickens ended up on the table when they stopped laying. As a girl though I was shielded from a lot of the messy stuff,

As the only girl on the farm I wasn't shielded but I've survived to be an almost normal adult

 

[samh004]

If anything the climate has been a bit wetter since 1970.

Your graphs illustrate an interesting change in the climate, however I feel you may be in the wrong thread

 

[ALH]

I could not cope growing up on a farm. I’d be a vegetarian.

My dad used to take my brother and me camping, armed with rifles and fishing rods, a frying pan, oil & potatoes. If I had been squeamish, I would have starved!

As a little girl, my parents brought home fluffy chickens from the Royal Adelaide Show. They were my pets until they were big enough to eat. I’m a completely normal adult now with no sign of PTSD

 

[ALH]

Both of these messages, exactly!

I'm hesitant to say it too loudly, but everyone kicked up a stink when the banks were bailed out, so how is this any different, after all, inland Australia has been a dry and inhospitable place for thousands of years, it's not like there haven't been droughts before. I realise this is a sore point though and it is not my intention to attack the farmers, especially as farms need to be somewhere to support a growing population.

I would have preferred to see money going into programs to help farmers modernise their farms like this tomato farm and this salad green farm. Yes, both examples take things to the extreme, but so is the weather in this country. Both require a large investment of capital, but by using the latest technology they probably have low overheads. The tomato farm in particular powers it's own desalination plant... no drought there!



And as @juddles mentions, the race to the cheapest groceries to "help consumers" only hurts the farmers. I loved a certain milk brand and always chose it for years, but when I found out about the ways Coles and Woolworths beat down their suppliers I started reading up, and eventually chose a brand that costs me an extra $1 but provides for the farmers better. We do this with other products too.

I'd rather the supermarkets stopped screwing the farmers with decreases in price for home brand sourced stuff and perhaps donated some of their profit themselves, instead of placing the issue on me.

So rant over, I do support the farmers, but in unorthodox to the masses ways!

That Tomato Farm is fantastic

 

[love_the_life]

My dad used to take my brother and myself camping, armed with rifles and fishing rods, a frying pan, oil & potatoes. If I had been squeamish, I would have starved!

As a little girl, my parents brought home fluffy chickens from the Royal Adelaide Show. They were my pets until they were big enough to eat. I’m a completely normal adult now with no sign of PTSD

Yes, I always had the baby lambs to play with. And then they moved into the killer flock. Also used to go out ferreting for rabbits. One year my father said I could have the proceeds from the sales of 'bobby' calves (male calves). That year many of our prize jerseys dropped male calves so I did very well. Don't think my father was expecting that.

 

[Pushka]

Yeah, nah. I wouldn’t be able to eat animals I’d known as pets. I didn’t eat much as a kid anyway and right until my twenties. Probably some kind of eating disorder thing in hindsight brought about by awful cooking techniques

 

[love_the_life]

Yeah, nah. I wouldn’t be able to eat animals I’d known as pets. I didn’t eat much as a kid anyway and right until my twenties. Probably some kind of eating disorder thing in hindsight brought about by awful cooking techniques

Still OT but my mother was not renowned for her cooking prowess. In fact I remember after we were married, my father asked where I got my cooking skills from. Chops and 3 boiled veg were pretty standard, though she did lash out with brawn and tripe sometimes. If we bought meat it was either corned silverside or sausages and of course the orange smoked cod in white sauce for Good Friday. I suppose it was hard though as she had to be at the cowshed both morning and night to help Dad with the milking.

 

[OZDUCK]

Still OT but my mother was not renowned for her cooking prowess. In fact I remember after we were married, my father asked where I got my cooking skills from. Chops and 3 boiled veg were pretty standard, though she did lash out with brawn and tripe sometimes. If we bought meat it was either corned silverside or sausages and of course the orange smoked cod in white sauce for Good Friday. I suppose it was hard though as she had to be at the cowshed both morning and night to help Dad with the milking.

My mother was a pretty good cook especially with cakes and tarts but you made me remember the smell of that horrid orange smoked cod ( aka South African Fillet) in white sauce - yech.

 

[Pushka]

Still OT but my mother was not renowned for her cooking prowess. In fact I remember after we were married, my father asked where I got my cooking skills from. Chops and 3 boiled veg were pretty standard, though she did lash out with brawn and tripe sometimes. If we bought meat it was either corned silverside or sausages and of course the orange smoked cod in white sauce for Good Friday. I suppose it was hard though as she had to be at the cowshed both morning and night to help Dad with the milking.

Good lord we have the same mother! Our great treat was when the chops got burnt as finally they had some flavour!

My mother was a pretty good cook especially with cakes and tarts but you made me remember the smell of that horrid orange smoked cod ( aka South African Fillet) in white sauce - yech.

Not Catholic but every Friday we would have fresh whiting. Yum. But not on Good Friday. It was horrible - that red English Cod, boiled potatoes and white sauce with parsley. Revolting. I didn’t eat it. Went without.

I would eat more fish and less meat but it’s so friggen expensive.

What was the topic again?

 

[drron]

Well I loved my kedgeree.We used to have it most Fridays as well.When I was an intern and had to live in at RPAH kedgeree was on the menu every Friday-my favourite meal there.Though you should have seen the meals on other days.Shepherd's pie was amongst the few that were edible.
So for anyone wanting to know what smoked cod in a lovely white sauce is like here is the recipe-
Smoked Cod Kedgeree recipe – All recipes Australia NZ

 

[lovetravellingoz]

What was the topic again?

Good question. But I still like smoked cod occasionally reliving a regular childhood dish that I quite enjoyed., and still do.

Now "chinese food", or rather my mum's weird interpretation of it (basically lots of cabbage and mince ) is one that I do not revisit.

 

[tgh]

What was the topic again?

It was uber boring …...calling for people to care…… dreadfully banal stuff

Clearly I should be banned or canned perhaps both at once…..

but …...it has been saved , and has morphed into a celebration of predation.. a much more worthy subject….

 

[Pushka]

What was the topic again?

It was uber boring …...calling for people to care…… dreadfully banal stuff

Clearly I should be banned or canned perhaps both at once…..

but …...it has been saved , and has morphed into a celebration of predation.. a much more worthy subject….

Well at least we keep bringing it back to the top of the Unread.

Hopefully the rains come soon. Just need those easterly lows to start coming west.

 

[tgh]

Well at least we keep bringing it back to the top of the Unread.

Indeed.. and for that I am humbly grateful...

 

[ALH]

Well I loved my kedgeree.We used to have it most Fridays as well.When I was an intern and had to live in at RPAH kedgeree was on the menu every Friday-my favourite meal there.Though you should have seen the meals on other days.Shepherd's pie was amongst the few that were edible.
So for anyone wanting to know what smoked cod in a lovely white sauce is like here is the recipe-
Smoked Cod Kedgeree recipe – All recipes Australia NZ

I love smoked cod, despite growing up on (almost daily) freshly caught fish.

.......and I’m doing my tiny bit for the drought, by joining the Qantas Charity Flight to Longreach again in October.

This will be my second Qantas Charity flight and my fourth trip to Longreach.

I’ve also taken both my daughters & husband so they get a small taste of Outback Qld and hopefully pump a few shekels into the Community.

I had 3 years in Tenant Creek as a kid, so lived through some pretty dry times.

 

[Pushka]

Well at least we keep bringing it back to the top of the Unread.

Indeed.. and for that I am humbly grateful...

Interestingly there was a beef farmer on TV tonight lamenting the fact that people don’t think about the animals. He also mentioned he wasn’t able to do usual maintenance as he was tending to the animals. He suggested the Defence forces could be called in. Not a bad idea.

 

[juddles]

.....

I had 3 years in Tenant Creek as a kid, so lived through some pretty dry times.....

I did a year there as a 9 yr old

1979 to be precise.

 

[Hvr]

He suggested the Defence forces could be called in. Not a bad idea.

Firstly (grammar pedantry) there is one Australian Defence Force comprising the Navy, Army and Air Force.

Secondly, why is it that every time there is something like a drought, people want the military to do the hard work? That's not their role.

They would need to be taught how to handle stock, feed etc. There are plenty of unemployed people in these regions who need work. Train them and give them a career option.

The drought has been there for a number of years, it's not like it started yesterday. Therefore there should have been plans for agisting animals etc.

In modern businesses, contingency plans are developed for known and unknown events. Droughts are a known event but when they occur it's like it is the first time it has ever happened and it is an emergency. It's not, it is a normal business downturn that should be planned for and contingencies developed.

Maybe a few farmers need to go out of business and better business people need to start running farms? The ones currently running farms are running around panicking because they don't seem to know what to do. Any other business would go broke. Why not farmers?

Yes I know we all need to eat but farming seems stuck in the old ways of doing things. Make money, then have a drought and get handouts and so on. Surely we cannot allow this cycle to continue? One day there won't be a drought breaking rain and on current practices we'll starve.

 

[rock86]

Firstly (grammar pedantry) there is one Australian Defence Force comprising the Navy, Army and Air Force.

Secondly, why is it that every time there is something like a drought, people want the military to do the hard work? That's not their role.

They would need to be taught how to handle stock, feed etc. There are plenty of unemployed people in these regions who need work. Train them and give them a career option.

The drought has been there for a number of years, it's not like it started yesterday. Therefore there should have been plans for agisting animals etc.

In modern businesses, contingency plans are developed for known and unknown events. Droughts are a known event but when they occur it's like it is the first time it has ever happened and it is an emergency. It's not, it is a normal business downturn that should be planned for and contingencies developed.

Maybe a few farmers need to go out of business and better business people need to start running farms? The ones currently running farms are running around panicking because they don't seem to know what to do. Any other business would go broke. Why not farmers?

Yes I know we all need to eat but farming seems stuck in the old ways of doing things. Make money, then have a drought and get handouts and so on. Surely we cannot allow this cycle to continue? One day there won't be a drought breaking rain and on current practices we'll starve.

Did you read that article I posted? It discusses much of the points you've raised.

 

[davidj]

So is there still doubt that climate change is occurring?

Droughts are not new.

Handouts to farmers won't help them manage this each time it happens. Infrastructure will.