Pushed to their limits by an unrelenting drought that is taking the heaviest toll on their mental well-being, farmers across the district are expressing deep frustration.
Many farmers have dismissed the government’s $55 million relief package as woefully inadequate, labelling it “a drop in the ocean.”
In the 2022–23 fiscal year, the state’s primary industries—comprising grains, livestock, horticulture, wine, seafood, forestry, and dairy—generated $18.5 billion in revenue, marking a seven per cent rise from the previous year.
According to the government, this sector was responsible for 51 per cent of the state’s total merchandise exports and directly employed more than 76,000 people.
Local farmers say the ongoing dry conditions are not only affecting their livelihoods but also having a huge impact on their mental health—with many now suffering in silence.
Burdened by the soaring costs of livestock feed, high-interest loans, dwindling hay availability, and unpredictable weather conditions, a growing number of farmers are now questioning the sustainability of their future in agriculture.
“We don’t want handouts. I think we need low-interest loans. That’s the only way to go if we are to survive,” said Michael Schinckel, a local livestock farmer who has been farming for over 50 years.
“The amount of borrowings we have all had to do over the last 12 months because of the situation is going to take some serious amount of work to pay back,” Mr Schinckel said.
He said he was now feeding approximately 25 tonnes of grain to his ewes, which equated to nearly $2000 a day.
“We are also feeding approximately 20 tonnes of grain in the feedlot with specially designed rations for them (livestock),” he said in an interview with this newspaper [The Naracoorte News].
“Our ewes are getting a mixture of barley, approximately 10 per cent beans. Like most livestock producers, it’s financially draining.”
Like some other farmers, Mr Schinckel said he had to renegotiate finances with the banks.
“Feed bills have doubled in the past two seasons. All associated costs with fodda – for example, growing the hay crop, seed, fertiliser, silage, all haymaking, and the cost of buying grain, are now in excess of $100 per ewe,” Mr Schinckel said.
“This includes finishing all the lambs, getting new lambs up for mating, and feeding all the ewes.”
He said this was a substantial cost.
Dry situation
Mr Schinckel said the dry situation was not totally unusual, but what was “totally unusual” was the consistent variations in the amount of rainfall for the last two years.
“We have had an unusual run of seasons, which started in June 2023, where we had 127 ml of rain. This gave a survival rate of our lambs whilst lambing—knocked them around by something like 10 per cent compared to previous years,” he said.
“That year we only had about 125 ml for the four months—from July through October, inclusive. We had very low hay yields. We ended up with 525 ml for the year, which was around average.
“Now, because of those dry months of July through October, the hay yields were nothing like as good.”
Roll on to 2024, Mr Schinckel said the year had a very late start, with only 76 ml of rain to the end of June.
“We have been feeding ewes daily for five months. Strangely enough, we had exceptional growth through August, and we put that down to the fact that the ground was not too wet,” he said.
“We were fortunate to shut our paddocks in early August, so we had reasonable hay yields; it was very good quality, and this rarely happens when you have tight springs (low rainfall, less growth).”
Mr Schinckel said they had tested two paddocks of hay for feed value and tested 20 per cent protein or better, which was exceptionally good.
“The production through spring in pasture growth was down (compared) to normal, and this led to the overgrazing of lots of our paddocks,” he said.
“We ended up with only 360 ml for the year, but we did get out of jail to a degree.”
He said 2025 had an “exceptionally dry start”.
“We have only had 15 ml until the middle of April. This is very unusual,” Mr Schinckel said.
“The overgrazed pastures and paddocks resulted in much earlier feeding and confinement. We confine ewes now in small paddocks and feed them daily.
“We usually start feeding hay from mid-February and grain from the middle of March. This year, we started feeding both in early February.”
Mr Schinckel said that the ewes were scanned in the middle of March, and that resulted in approximately 10 per cent being empty—not pregnant.
“They are mainly the ewe lambs that lambed down last spring, but of the ewes that are in lamb, approximately only 70 per cent are carrying twins,” he said.
“Maintenance feeding until scanning—that’s approximately 600 grams per ewe per day. We have stacked that up to approximately 800 grams per day, plus hay, plus straw.”
Drought impact
Mr Schinckel said the main impact of drought was on the feed for livestock.
“We simply haven’t got the paddock feed. It’s an enormous amount, and the enormous cost of buying in grain and producing as much as we can, for example, hay,” he said.
“It’s a financial burden. It’s a huge financial drain.
“You have to keep feeding, and there is no other option.”
Impact on mental health
Mr Schinckel said many farmers were under the pump.
“I can understand people are being seriously affected by this,” he said.
“I talk to other farmers, and we share our problems. And we are all in the same boat.
“I find that some farmers are not as open as I am and are suffering in silence.”
Government help
Mr Schinckel said the government’s drought relief package “is of very little use to our business”.
“I consider our business, as far as live production goes, to be the average size,” he said.
Around the state, Mr Schinckel said the amount of money spent by producers nowadays would be something in the order of $10-$15 million per week per 1000 producers.
“So, $50m that the government is offering is not going to go far—it’s a drop in the ocean,” Mr Schinckel said.
He believed that the state and federal governments did not know or understand livestock production.
“I believe both state and federal governments, especially the Labor governments, do not know livestock production and generally don’t really like it much,” he said.
“I look at (federal Agriculture) minister Murray Watt, who was agriculture minister two years ago, and he halved the live sheep trade, which we all know was purely political.
“…at the same time, he mooted on national television an inquiry into the livestock transport industry, in line with today’s contemporary standards.”
“Only last week on the ABC 7.30 report, he (minister) mentioned looking into the competitive nature of piece rates (for shearers),” he said.
“Now, piece rates, as we all know, are the backbone of the shearing industry, and without that, we will not get productivity.”
Mr Schinkel said if the piece rates were changed, that would become a bigger issue.
Mr Schinckel said the future for our livestock producers did not look good.
“If it rained today, we would still be feeding for months. It doesn’t rain grass,” he said.
Another local farmer, Ken Scott, said the situation for livestock farmers was critical.
“When will it rain? It’s critical, or do we sell all our stock? We can’t just be buying feed, but I need to keep my livestock alive,” Mr Scott said.
Mr Scott has been farming near Naracoorte for the past 35 years and thinks the situation facing farmers in the district was like a “snowball”.
“I think the feed situation is critical. We don’t have any feed because we did not get any rain in September—that’s what I believe,” he said.
“Back then, when we didn’t get the rain, we didn’t get the bulk of hay, so everything has snowballed since September.
“The soil is not wet, and it is quite dry, so the perennial plants that we normally have are struggling.”
Impact on business
At the moment, Mr Scott said it was costing him quite a bit of money.
“…but if it continues on, and the biggest problem is when will it rain—we did get a bit over the weekend (two weeks ago)—but if we don’t get a reasonable start this year, it’s going to cost a lot of money, or I will have to sell all my livestock,” he said.
Mr Scott said the situation would get worse in the next eight weeks or so.
“Because we can’t keep buying feed—we truck it from a long way away—it’s definitely going to get critical in the next eight weeks or so,” he said.
“I can’t tell how much it is costing me now or how much it will cost me later on—but all I know is I need to keep my livestock alive.”
Mind challenges
He said the two tough years were having an impact on him and his family’s mental health.
“It’s having a big impact on my mental health. It’s been two tough years, so it is definitely having an impact,” Mr Scott said.
“If I say it isn’t, I’ll be denying it.
“We don’t talk about a lot of farming stuff anymore; it’s probably because you keep it to yourself—the things you have to do day-to-day—it has a lot of dust.”
State assistance
When asked about the government’s $55m drought relief package, Mr Scott said he did not understand what the package entailed.
“I actually don’t understand that,” he said.
“I won’t use government assistance—I’d rather sell my stock. To be honest, I don’t know what the government can actually do.”
Mr Scott said the government was trying, but there were “too many clauses,” which he did not like.
“It is dry, and the most critical part is when it will rain. If it rains in the middle of May, fine. If it doesn’t rain until June, I think then it will be too cold, and a different scenario.”
Drought relief package
The state government announced a further $55 million package of comprehensive assistance to support drought-affected farmers and communities across South Australia on April 8, this month.
According to the government, the package builds upon the $18 million in initial assistance announced in November 2024, taking the total drought assistance available to $73 million.
The government said the package had been designed in direct consultation with primary producers, including a roundtable with farmers and key industry bodies hosted by the premier in April.
“Most of South Australia is experiencing drought conditions, including some regions with their lowest rainfall on record,” a government statement said.
“Even if the drought were to break, its impacts will continue for many months or years.”
Most not eligible
Shadow minister for Primary Industries and Regional South Australia, Nicola Centofanti also shared concerns that only a small percentage of producers could be eligible for the state government fee relief as part of the latest drought support package.
In particular, rebates for the Emergency Services Levy and Vehicle Registration are only applicable for primary producers receiving the Commonwealth’s Farm Household Allowance (FHA), with the latest data from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry showing there are only around 820 recipients of the allowance in South Australia.
“Limiting the ESL and registration rebates to recipients of the FHA means most farms in the state, no matter how badly they have been impacted by the current drought, will miss out on this vital hip-pocket relief,” Dr Centofanti said.
“This is crucial and immediate relief that would ease pressure on many families, yet with 9,000 farming businesses in South Australia it’s likely that most will not be able to access this assistance.
“We are calling on the government to remove this restriction to allow primary producers to apply for the ESL and Vehicle Registration Rebate through a drought hardship registry, where a farmer’s eligibility could be validated through a brief verification process.
“This would help to remove confusion and provide meaningful and widespread support.”
Dr Centofanti said the opposition was pleased to see that the government had taken its advice and included some of their suggestions in the latest drought relief measures, however stressed that many farmers would be disappointed that low and no interest concessional loans were not in the mix.
“Low and no interest concessional loans would have provided much needed cash flow at a critical time in terms of preparation for next season’s crops” Dr Centofanti said.
Mayors get involved
In his report at the April Naracoorte Lucindale Council meeting last week, mayor Patrick Ross said he was in an online meeting with the Tatiara, Kingston, Coorong, and Southern Mallee councils to discuss the drought situation.
“This meeting was to discuss the drought and how we may be able to assist our ratepayers in general,” Mr Ross said in his written report.
“It was agreed that the LCLGA (Limestone Coast Local Government Association) would look at doing a similar survey to the one they had done to further inform us on the feelings within the Limestone Coast and the influence that the drought will have on all businesses within the region,” he said.
Bureau of Meteorology (BOM)
In its March drought statement, BOM said the dry conditions could be ongoing for South Australia, with March rainfall being below average to very much below average (in the lowest 10 percent of Marches since 1900) for much of south-eastern South Australia.
BOM’s long-range forecast for April to June showed that rainfall was likely to be below average for large parts of the south and the west.
This article appeared in The Naracoorte News, 30 April 2025.
