NO TEARS FOR THE CITY
by Kate Kariotti

People who have moved from larger urban areas to the Somerset Region may find themselves experiencing something of a culture shock. They may notice, without any obvious provocation, phrase like ‘When Time Stood Still’ pops into their head and for the life of them they cannot think where they have heard it before. (Actually, it is the title of a movie.)

Perhaps they find themselves humming a tune about a swagman drowning in a Billabong. Given there is barely enough water in the dams for a Swaggie to drown himself even lying face down, there would be little hope of him finding a suitable Billabong. However, our newcomers do know why they may begin to hum ‘Waltzing Matilda’.

The locals are friendly and generous with their time and advice should the newcomer seek their help.

The absence of the ubiquitous urban background noise is the other significant thing about country living - the silence is virtually absolute. Lying quietly as sleep dissipates the thought runs through the mind, “Why did I not move out here years ago?”

After a while the birds awaken, eagerly twittering their early morning calls. Beautiful! Suddenly the tranquility is shattered as someone roars past in their souped up V8. This is closely followed by the raucous laugh of our very own kookaburra; time to get up.

It is interesting that the majority of our indigenous wildlife from the cute and cuddly, like the koala to the downright weird, the platypus and everything in between, all seem to have one thing in common - their mating calls; analogous to having Chad Morgan standing under your window attempting to serenade you with Neapolitan love songs. There has to be a downside even in this Eden where we have chosen to live, known as The Somerset Region.

ON THE LAND

Somerset Region.info recently spoke to a livestock producer at the Lowood Show about the drought; his name is Adam and his property at Mt.Tyson is situated some 40kms west of Toowoomba in the heart of the Darling Downs. When asked what effect it has had on his stock this year, he said, “We’ve been drought feeding for the last 12 months - hand feeding. We used to only hand feed during winter but now it’s ongoing.”

He said his Jersey cows are in good condition even though their feeding régime has changed. “We’ve been feeding a lot of bread; from September last year, we’ve never done that before, it’s cheap, helps cut costs and is a good supplement feed.”

How will he continue to cope with the conditions? He said basically by mixing his own feed and using by-products.

Up until this year, on Adam’s place, they’ve managed to get by with their own grass hay “… but this year that’s all gone”.

Adam nodded toward another property owner Clayton, who was standing nearby, “Clayton here got a bit of rain earlier on in the summer so they were fortunate enough to grow some millet hay, and then there’s been peanut crops - so they’ve been baled. That’s what the cows are living off now. We haven’t baled sorghum stubble or any stubble, for the last 2 years but that’s changed and we are back to doing it again.”

His bore has dropped from fourteen irrigation sprays to seven, leaving him with five acres of Lucerne instead of ten. He talked about the bores around Toowoomba and said, “Many of the bores, even irrigation bores, are just drying up and they’re drilling more holes. They’re just going down the same depth but in another spot.”

Financially, he says, “everyone’s feeling the pinch”. Adam had been employed by a firm in Toowoomba but was made redundant due to the lack of work.

He discusses how the water situation is negatively impacting on businesses; businesses like welding works and machinery agents. “No one’s buying any machinery or getting anything repaired because it’s still sitting in the shed from the previous year.”

On the topic of Toowoomba and level 5 water restrictions, he said it is tough. “…and when there was 30 points at one stage earlier on, you’d pick the mud up on your boot, (it was) just laying on the dust. Our whole farm is mostly powder.”