{"id":321631,"date":"2026-03-10T01:48:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T01:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/321631\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T01:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T01:48:11","slug":"far-west-nsw-graziers-who-went-from-drought-to-flooding-rains-begin-clean-up-and-search-for-stock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/321631\/","title":{"rendered":"Far West NSW graziers who went from drought to flooding rains begin clean-up and search for stock"},"content":{"rendered":"

A collective sigh of relief was heard as rain fell on the people and properties<\/a> of Far West New South Wales.<\/p>\n

After waiting months and even years for good rain, graziers watched intently as the land soaked up the much-needed moisture.<\/p>\n

The long-term outlook is positive. The grass has begun to grow, dams are full and livestock are fattening up.<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n

But as the water and excitement subside, graziers are assessing the damage left behind.<\/p>\n

For Sam Beven, president of the Pastoralists’ Association of West Darling, it is a relief to see some rain, but he knows there are ramifications to the deluge.<\/p>\n

The grazier owns and manages the 75,271-hectare Sturts Meadows Station<\/a>, located about 70 kilometres north of Broken Hill.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Sam Beven runs sheep and cattle on Sturts Meadows Station, 70km north of Broken Hill. (Supplied: Erin Beven)<\/p>\n

Throughout the month of February and then into March, Mr Beven recorded 345 millimetres of rain, a large jump in comparison to the region’s yearly average rainfall of approximately 200 millimetres.<\/p>\n

“It’s a welcome sight to see all this greenery and all our dams full, but it obviously comes with its challenges,” Mr Beven said.The clean-up<\/p>\n

A number of roads and fences have been washed away on stations across the far west, particularly those in lower-lying areas with creeks and river systems running through them.<\/p>\n

Many bituminised roads and unsealed tracks<\/a> connecting stations to rural towns such as Wilcannia and Tibooburra have been affected.<\/p>\n

As graziers look to the coming months, fencing, dams and road repairs will be the first point of call, to allow access for transport, including stock trucks coming in and out.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A number of properties are cut off from main roads. (Supplied: Dennis Mannion)<\/p>\n

There is also work to be done in locating livestock on these vast outback properties.<\/p>\n

Mr Beven says it is hard for him to say whether he has lost any animals to the deluge.<\/p>\n

Without being able to access parts of his property due to the water, he is unsure what he will find once the water dries up.<\/p>\n

He is hopeful the animals managed to move away from the rising water.<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n

“We’re a little bit lucky with the hills and higher country that we’ve got,” he said.<\/p>\n

On some of the more flat, open country, landholders were forced to move sheep out of the rising water.<\/p>\n

Livestock welfare<\/p>\n

Ameliah Scott, owner of The Flying Vet, saw the water spill over the far west from the air.<\/p>\n

While Dr Scott was happy to see the rain, the short- and long-term issues surrounding animal welfare were front of mind.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ameliah Scott says prolonged exposure to moisture can cause a range of serious health issues for livestock. (ABC News: Donal Sheil)<\/p>\n

She says when the water first came in, the immediate concerns were livestock standing in the water for too long.<\/p>\n

“Hoofed animals, once they’re in water for more than 48 hours \u2026 their feet begin to slough off,” Dr Scott said.<\/p>\n

“Sloughing off” is when an entire hoof falls off the animal, something that can be fatal.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Helicopters have been used to move livestock out of flood water. (Supplied: Carey Contracting Photography)<\/p>\n

In the longer term, Dr Scott says there are other issues that can arise from prolonged exposure to moist conditions, such as bacteria build-up, secondary skin infections and abscesses in the feet.<\/p>\n

A number of treatments and preventions are available if graziers notice their animals appear “sick and slow-moving”, or if they notice skin infections, in particular.<\/p>\n

“If they get onto it early enough, it can have quite a good outcome,” Dr Scott said.<\/p>\n

Seasonal whiplash<\/p>\n

It was the rain everyone was waiting for, and a stark difference to the barren landscape that existed mere weeks ago.<\/p>\n

\"Aerial<\/p>\n

Marrapina Station, 160 kilometres north of Broken Hill, was flooded in by the rain. (Supplied: Jess Pluckrose)<\/p>\n

In the second half of February, many parts of far-west NSW received major rainfall tallies, with anywhere between 50 and 400mm recorded across the region.<\/p>\n

But it was not long ago that Broken Hill livestock and property agent Troy Hartman was having some tough conversations with producers.<\/p>\n

With 2025 being drier than average, dams were running dry, and there was not enough feed to keep livestock on properties at full capacity.<\/p>\n

\"two<\/p>\n

Troy Hartman says the season has turned around completely. (ABC Broken Hill: Lily McCure)<\/p>\n

“[We] spent the remaining sort of half of last year destocking, in a pretty big way,” Mr Hartman said.<\/p>\n

“There was sort of not many cattle left in the western division after September, October.”<\/p>\n

The lack of rainfall was widespread and, up until only a few weeks ago, graziers were preparing for it to continue.<\/p>\n

For graziers like Mr Beven, it has been a stark comparison.<\/p>\n

“It’s been day and night \u2026 everyone was prepared for drought,” he said.<\/p>\n

Now the rain has arrived, blanketing much of the far west, refilling dams and triggering grass growth everywhere.<\/p>\n

\"water<\/p>\n

The rain will trigger extensive grass growth in the coming months. (Supplied: Terry Smith)<\/p>\n

Mr Hartman says it has changed the outlook for the season completely and has been ideal timing for feed growth.<\/p>\n

“As a rule, the majority of people are well out of the woods,” he said.<\/p>\n

“There’s still plenty of moisture and heat in the ground. With that combination, it [the grass] will just go berserk.”<\/p>\n

‘Rain cheaper than drought?’<\/p>\n

As the water subsides and the ground soaks up the moisture, there is a sense of optimism and a boost of energy amongst producers.<\/p>\n

\"two<\/p>\n

Sam and Erin Beven lost road access in and out of their property. (Supplied: Erin Beven)<\/p>\n

Mr Beven says he is hopeful that what he has heard about the cost of damages due to rainfall being cheaper, compared to the costs associated with drought, is true.<\/p>\n

“I have heard a few people \u2026 [with] more experience with this sort of situation than I do [say that].<\/p>\n

“[It] remains to be seen whether it’s [the rain] cheaper than drought \u2014 but I hope so.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A collective sigh of relief was heard as rain fell on the people and properties of Far West…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[173704,173705,273,11414,173701,19876,173702,173703,173706,173707,111,139,69,34091,147],"class_list":{"0":"post-321631","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-agriculture-costs","9":"tag-buying-and-selling-livestock","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-extreme-weather","12":"tag-far-west-nsw-rain","13":"tag-flooding","14":"tag-graziers","15":"tag-infrastructure-damage","16":"tag-livestock-loss","17":"tag-livestock-welfare","18":"tag-new-zealand","19":"tag-newzealand","20":"tag-nz","21":"tag-rainfall","22":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}