Australian Ranchers Droving Cattle Along Roads In Search Of Scraps Of Grass

[hatrack]

As Australian farmer Philip Bell coaxed his cattle along the road, a bystander nodded toward a straggler ambling behind the rest of the herd searching for an overlooked tussock of grass. "Not much of a bull, is he?" the local said, prompting a rueful smile from beneath Bell's oversized Akubra hat. "Nah," the cattleman replied. "Used to be, but. He should be 600-700 kilos (1,300-1,550 pounds) but he's nearer 400 now."

As the world's top climate change experts meet in Bangkok to thrash out a long-term response to global warming, farmers in this part of Australia are already in the front line. Bell's property lies in some of Australia's most fertile agricultural land around Goulburn, some 210 kilometres (130 miles) southwest of Sydney. However, many of his cattle have been left emaciated by the country's worst drought in a century, a prolonged dry spell Australia's most eminent scientist has linked to climate change.

Environmental researcher Tim Flannery has warned that Brisbane and Adelaide -- home to a combined total of three million people -- could run out of water by year's end. He said the country was facing a "catastrophic" situation. "Even a year ago this would have been unthinkable," Flannery told AFP. "I think it's the most extreme and the most dangerous situation arising from climate change facing any country in the world right now."

The drought has forced Bell to "drove," or walk, his hungry cattle in the hope they can get some nutrients from the grass verges along a local back road before being penned into another threadbare paddock. "We're just trying to find some food for them. We've run out of feed at home and we're just using the road as a break measure because we can't get grain or feed at the moment," he told AFP. But there are slim pickings as other farmers have been forced to take the same measures in a bid to fatten up their cattle as winter approaches.

EDIT

http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/administration/afp-news.html?id=070503072034.3f5pd4qo&cat=null#

[phantom power]

1. Tangentially, I can't recall seeing any MSM coverage of this in the US.

Even Darfur gets occasional press, and those are just poor brown people.

[phantom power]

2. $#@!$@!% dupe