This fire is one of a few fire fronts moving out of Carnarvon Gorge NP, QLD ATM. Sentinel2 image from monday. pic.twitter.com/ZOzjsUgCca

— Rohan Fisher (@RohanFisher4) November 2, 2023

MEATWORKS are scheduling extra shifts to accommodate cattle from burnt-out properties on compassionate grounds as fires consume vast tracts of grass that were being relied upon to carry stock through a dry and hot summer ahead.

Locations of individual fires recorded across Australia over the past 72 hours. Source Landgate WA

Fire watch websites show more than 200 active fires have been burning across Australia in recent days.

The North Australia and Rangelands Fire Information (NAFI) website has reported a record number of views – with 16 million map requests this year beating seven million in 2019. NAFI says about 2.7 million hectares has burnt across Northern Australia.

Properties have been completely burned out in several regions. See related article:  Producers share their experiences from the fire front 

Meatworks add extra shifts

In response to widespread pasture loss as a result of the past week’s bushfires, some Central and Southern Queensland beef processing plants are scheduling extra shifts to accommodate cattle from burnt-out properties on compassionate grounds.

As Beef Central described in Tuesday’s weekly kill report, many Queensland processors’ kill rosters are already heavily committed through to Christmas closures due to current high livestock turnoff pressure caused by drought.

That has only heightened the difficulties for producers whose properties have been heavily impacted by recent fires (see earlier report).

Teys Australia has scheduled extra Saturday shifts at the company’s Lakes Creek and Beenleigh plants, principally to help-out fire victims. That’s on top of a limited labour workforce already heavily burdened with recent high rates of operations due to herd reduction.

Lakes Creek will run an extra shift tomorrow, Saturday 4 November, and another on Saturday 18 November for producers who are in desperate circumstances after fires.

One Marlborough district cattleman has 500 booked for tomorrow’s shift, and another from Biloela, 400 head. Others from fire-affected country south of Rockhampton will also have numbers in tomorrow’s Lakes Creek shift.

Further south, space has been found in an already heavily congested kill roster at Teys Beenleigh on Saturday 18 November for fire-affected cattle producers, including one who lost all his country to fire near Tenterfield.

JBS Australia has confirmed that it will also operate a Saturday shift tomorrow at the company’s Dinmore plant west of Brisbane, to help relieve current cattle supply pressure – the first at the plant since at least 2019.

Suppliers say fodder is available

Affected producers face difficult decisions to either sell stock into a severely depressed market or purchase fodder.

Major suppliers have told Beef Central that fodder is available.

“There is product there, it is not like 2019,” Feed Central’s Tim Ford said.

“The thing that we’ve been seeing is there has probably been some panic buying of hay, and we have just been encouraging people to slow down and do their research.

“Fodder is expensive and making the wrong decision does cost a lot of money, there can be cheaper options out there.

“We are urging people to do their research, work with a nutritionist, find out how you are going to feed, how long you need feed for, what type of feed or ration you need, there is a lot of information and assistance available, we encourage people to take a deep breath and do their research first.”

More than 270,000ha devastated in CQ

AgForce said fires have devastated more than 270,000 hectares of central Queensland, leaving a fire scar one quarter the size of the greater Sydney area, and at least 50,000 hectares of the Burnett region.

AgForce has produced this map demonstrating the scale of fire damage, superimposing the fire scar from Queensland’s Carnarvon region over a map of Greater Sydney.

Around 10,000 hectares of land has been destroyed around the Dalveen region on the border country of the Southern Downs.

AgForce Queensland general president Georgie Somerset said the toll on farmers caught in the fire’s path was immense and was felt on a number of levels.

“These fires have been very fast moving and have destroyed a lot of dry feed for our stock, which leaves people in that difficult position with animals and very few feed options,” Ms Somerset says.

“And unfortunately because of the season we’ve had, there’s not a lot of available feed in the area either. We’ve actually lost a lot of grazing country in the Carnarvon, the Burnett and now also in the Southern Downs area.”

The Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries is coordinating initial fodder drops to beef producers, with extra assistance being sought from AgForce and Rural Aid, which are also providing assistance through mental health counsellors.

“Producers are managing this really well and local communities are rallying around people and obviously we’ve got the DAF emergency fodder drops, but producers are going to need more feed going forward,” Ms Somerset said.

“And the difficulty of procuring that feed is the challenge for us now.”

Further rounds of Federal disaster assistance activated

In Brisbane this afternoon Federal Minister for Agriculture and Emergency Services Murray Watt announced a new round of bushfire assistance for people impacted in areas including the Bundaberg region, the Gladstone region and Southern and Western Downs.

“The assistance we’re activating today is initial disaster assistance for people who’ve been impacted. Basically what it amounts to is $180 per adult or child, up to a maximum of $900 per family, to buy things like food, groceries, replacement clothing if people need that kind of thing.

“And we’re also providing grants of up to $5000 for those who are uninsured, who need to get electricity reconnected, gas and water and things like that as well. So please hop onto either the Queensland or Federal Government’s website to take advantage of that assistance.”

He said about 83 firefighters from Victoria and 60 from New Zealand had arrived in Toowoomba today to join fire containment efforts, which would provide the opportunity for local firefighters to have a well-earned break.

The scale of the fires currently burning across northern Australia is pretty unfathomable.

This animation visualises just the last two months of fire captured by #DEAHotspots – for context, the map covers an area larger than France, Spain and Germany combined… pic.twitter.com/YBkOQP5xCK

— Dr Robbi Bishop-Taylor 🛰️🌎🌊 (@SatelliteSci) November 3, 2023

Rabobank announces support measures

Rabobank group executive for Country Banking Australia, Marcel van Doremaele announced on Thursday the bank is working directly with individual clients whose farms or agribusinesses had been affected to provide support and offer a range of assistance measures in applicable circumstances.

The measures included deferral of scheduled loan payments, waiver of break costs on early redemption of farm management deposits, waiver of fees on loan increases necessary for rebuilding operations and waiver of fees for equipment finance contract variations.

Biosecurity advice

AgForce has also urged people to keep in mind basic biosecurity considerations during the recovery phase.

Tips include encouraging drivers to keep to well-used roads and tracks wherever possible, and to be wary that livestock will suffer long term immune function impacts because of the bushfire, although the animals recover as time passes. Paying attention to how herd health is managed was now the priority.

There was also a need to monitor areas where fodder has been dropped for unfamiliar plants because of the risk of weeds taking hold on the bare ground.