Drought-hit Australian farmers on brink of ruin

SWIRLING clouds of fine, brown dust engulf the small truck as Chris Groves hauls the feed bin into a dry-as-a-bone paddock and 200 crying, pregnant ewes race to the grain spilling onto the parched earth.

It is their first feed in two days and it is survival of the fittest as the sheep race to the 1 kg each of drought rations falling from the automatically controlled bin.

“It’s been a long time between drinks for some of these fellows,” Mr Groves said, squinting in the fading daylight.