Northern Victorian Irrigation Communities Chairman Dudley Bryant said the government’s mismanagement of irrigation water has certainly taken its toll on sheep and lamb producers.
“The effect on the national flock which will be felt for many years to come,” Mr Bryant said.
“According to Meat & Livestock Australia, national flock numbers have continued to plummet.
“They state, “On the back of the warmest and driest year on record, water and feed availability created heightened pressures for producers, particularly in NSW and northern Victoria, with many forced to offload core breeding stock”.
“At 63.7 million head, the national flock is now estimated to be at its lowest level in more than a century”.
One of those producers is Kerang prime lamb and first cross ewe breeder Geoff Kendell who in the last 2 ½ years has destock his entire 4600 flock.
Mr Kendell said; “We just can’t operate our business without a secure supply of water. It’s insanity to say that the mismanaged water plan hasn’t affected our irrigation communities. “The river has been in constant flood, but they won’t let us use the water.
“I don’t understand why they haven’t put a strategy in place to use the millions of litres of water being wasted to either help feed our population or help reduce the national debt through export earnings which are both vital to our economy.”
The lack of water has also seen the demise of Kerang’s prime lamb market once the third biggest market in the state of Victoria.
The loss of over 227,000 stock estimated to be worth $34 million has been devastating to the community farms and commercial businesses.