Discrimination by the Bureau of Meteorology

[old man emu]

It's down right disgusting! In this era of absolute political correctness and concern for the beliefs, feelings and whatever, the Bureau of Meteorology continues its blatant discrimination. 

 

Why is it that the BOM happily issues Sheep Graziers' Alerts for extreme weather conditions, yet completely ignores the needs of Cattle Graziers? Why does the BOM persist in this behaviour? Is a lamb roast of more value than a rump steak? Has the BOM become another conclave of Republican dissent, pushing its point by attempting to keep the aristocratic Sir Loin out in the cold?

[Yenn]

I fail to see why the sheep graziers are expected to feel the cold any more than Beef graziers or even dairy farmers, in fact dairy farmers would be most affected as sheep graziers don't have to tend their stock twice a day.

[nomadpete]

Nah, milk is best served cold. Shouldn't bother the dairy cattle at all.

[Marty_d]

By that logic, if you feed your cattle cocoa beans and there's an earthquake - voila, chocolate milkshakes...

[pmccarthy]

What do the sheep graziers do when there is an alert? Put jumpers on them?

[old man emu]

Go to a shearing shed. You'll see plenty of woolly jumpers there.

[onetrack]

Is a lamb roast of more value than a rump steak?

My oath it is. No-one gets between OT and a lamb roast without putting themselves in extreme danger - even though I am very partial to beef cuts.

 

Besides, cattle are pretty good at looking out for themselves - but everyone knows sheep are pretty dumb, and need constant care and attention.

[onetrack]

What do the sheep graziers do when there is an alert? Put jumpers on them?

Not quite as silly as it sounds, there are coats made for sheep to protect them from severe weather conditions.

 

Sheep are at extreme risk in a cold snap with strong winds with a severe wind-chill factor, right after being shorn. I've seen paddocks littered with dead freshly-shorn sheep, right after a bitterly cold Southerly blast.

With a sheep alert warning, you move the freshly-shorn sheep into a sheltered area with dense foliage, so they can get some protection from strong cold winds.

 

I used to get annoyed at farmers who asked me to clear blocks completely in the W.A. wheatbelt, leaving no vegetation for protective cover. Those blokes usually paid for their folly with major losses of sheep, in Winter weather.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Absolutely right. OTY. I had a small holding where a small-time farmer used to run 60 or so sheep... I picked his brain as I wanted to become a hobby  sheep farmer as well.. Well, when I learned about the work that is required to stop them trying to kill themselves or their lambs, I thought eff that! If the fencing wasn't so pristine, I would have got steers instead.. but I knew I would be in for some pretty hefty fence repair bills. So. I just lef the hobby farmer's sheep keep the pasture down and eat the fallen apples from the old apple orchard. Unf, Lady Atrick, who was bred in the country, decided the good life wasn't for her... and we now live in a village where I have to consider buying an air rifle for the rabbits and squirrels (hmmm.. potted squirrel - yum!)

[old man emu]

You don't have to tell me about living in country where Sheep Graziers' Alerts are required. I spent eleven years in Goulburn, NSW, a lot of it on the Highway Patrol. You really learn about cold, windy weather when you are directing traffic around a crash site at 3:00 am in mid-winter. I've seen rime ice on two-way aerials at 9:00 am.

 

Sheep are the dumbest animals. It's said that the prime objective of a two-year-old wether is to kill itself.

[red750]

Wouldn't you want to kill yourself if you had been wethered?

[Yenn]

Sheep can look after themselves in much more severe conditions than cattle can.

We used to keep all our cattle in through winter where I was a stockman in Shropshire in England. The sheep were never kept in. The main reason for the problem in Australia is that they tend to lamb in the worst weather, rather than wait for warmer times.

I worked as a stockman in the area OME talks about. Just South of Berrima. The sheep started dropping lambs just as it started snowing.

In Britain the sheep were in such severe conditions, that they couldn't get enough food, because of frozen grass. Some would look terrible and a couple of months later, when they had recovered and their wool had grown a bit more, they would loose their wool. The starvation caused a break in the wool. I have seen sheep bald and they are not pretty.

[facthunter]

They wouldn't be so affected by frosts if they weren't shorn so early.. None of the other animals ARE shorn. Nev

[willedoo]

On 07/08/2020 at 10:49 AM, Yenn said:

We used to keep all our cattle in through winter where I was a stockman in Shropshire in England.

Yenn, my great grandparents came out here from Shropshire. They were from Walton Heath area near Baschurch.

[Old Koreelah]

On 07/08/2020 at 7:54 AM, old man emu said:

... I spent eleven years in Goulburn, NSW, a lot of it on the Highway Patrol. You really learn about cold, windy weather when you are directing traffic around a crash site at 3:00 am in mid-winter. I've seen rime ice on two-way aerials at 9:00 am.

OME that might have been the same winter I rode my Ducati home from the Alpine Rally thru that area, at about the same time of night. The fog condensed onto my fairing, screen and helmet until the ice was too thick to open my visor. Must have been mad.

[old man emu]

1 hour ago, Old Koreelah said:

that might have been the same winter I rode my Ducati home from the Alpine Rally thru that area,

The formation of rime ice from the impact of fog droplets was pretty well standard in winter in the Highlands in the late 1980's, after the drought. I remember driving the family home from Campbelltown to Goulburn one winter evening when we ran into snow at Mittagong. That was in the days before the Mittagong by-pass. We were travelling amongst the 9:00 pm peak hour for the overnighters. As we came down Ben Dooley Hill towards Berrima, the trucks were slipping and sliding. Probably the only time those buggers came down Ben Dooley below the speed limit!

[facthunter]

Were you there one night when a FUSO went up in flames? . You could see the glow for about 30 Kms.. Nev

[old man emu]

Nah, but I did quite a few roll-overs in the Cullerin Ranges.

[facthunter]

You buggers were notorious both sides of Goulburn for "Pull over's"..  Nev

[old man emu]

It was like taking a potshot at s flock of Mynah birds with a 12 gauge loaded with birdshot. There were so many targets. We had to restrict ourselves to only writing up anything better than 130/100 kph or we would get Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. From Friday afternoon to Sunday midnight during the Ski season we had to ignore anything under 135/100 for the same reason.

 

I remember one weekend my partner and I did a patrol to the Snowies. We clocked a bloke at Bredbo on Friday evening. On Saturday morning we got him again between Cooma and Berridale. I don't know if he made it back to Sydney on Sunday night without getting pinged. I reckon these skiers used to drive to the snow in Winter and walk to the beach in Summer because their licences had been suspended for speeding to the snow.