Australian Heatwave and fires

[Okotoks]

How are SP's Australian members surviving the heat? Fires in Tasmania, NSW and Victoria sound bad. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21072347

 

[thunderdownunder]

It's been horrific, to say the least.
I just got off the phone to a Red Brangus breeder who lost 200 stud cows and one of his properties (homestead, shearing shed, equipment and other buildings).how devastating to lose those genetics. These particular breeders export genetics around the world, it's their livelihood, and it's going to take a long time to rebuild.

 

[justintime]

I was speaking with an Aussie that flushed a couple of my cows this past summer, and he said it was 48C there that day, which is about 118 F. He said that it was very dry as well, and there was a mass sell off of cows and feeders on the markets, so much so, that market price for good feeder steers had dropped to about half of what it was a few weeks ago. He said that some of his neighbours were losing cattle on pasture but so far, he had been fortunate to not lose any yet. Aussieland is a harsh country and I think you have to be a tough person to exist there!

 

[Aussie]

Fires in our state have settled down but everyone is still very much on edge. A good spring and now a dry summer has meant a lot of long dry feed for fires to travel quickly. The biggest fire here burnt over 100 houses and killed thousands of sheep and hundreds of cattle but thankfully no lives were lost. Some amazing stories have come out of this fire, which was on a peninsula, of many people standing in the sea for hours to survive the fire. Scary stuff

 

[thunderdownunder]

A Red Brangus bull whose genetics have been used across the world... he was found in a dry creek bed and suffered burns to 40% of his body.

 

[thunderdownunder]

More devastation...