THEY'RE the sports that give farmers a social outlet and time away from the stress of day-to-day farm operations, but campdraft and polocrosse are among the first sports to take a hit during drought.
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The lack of cattle has been the main issue for rural campdrafts, while the registration cost and having to hand feed cattle is keeping polocrosse players off the field.
Both sports are expecting to see big changes this year, with events cancelled across the State.
Nearly half the usual Australian Bushmen's Campdraft and Rodeo Association (ABCRA) affiliated campdrafts have already been cancelled this year and more are expected as smaller agricultural shows forego their usual campdraft.
The 43 event cancellations started inland, but coastal drafts have also taken a hit due to cattle availability, ABCRA general manager Hunter Jones said.
Merriwa Campdraft, to be held this weekend, is one of the few events in the upper Hunter, New England and North West to go ahead, with several local farmers pooling cattle to make sure the event goes ahead.
Sourcing cattle was the major problem at the ABCRA national finals held at Tamworth in January.
"Two of our members set cattle aside for the event and they were sent to market as soon as the draft was over," Mr Jones said.
Rodeo-wise, the group was looking good, he said.
"The stock are all contract stock so they're intensively fed and maintained to condition."
Despite the hardship faced by these events, according to Polocrosse NSW State executive officer Melanie Kelly there were more limited memberships now than at the end of last year's season.
This season, 781 players have signed up for full memberships and there are 341 limited players with 57 players waiting an upgrade to full membership.
At the end of the last year's season there were 1014 full members and 300 three-carnival memberships.
"Many of our players don't know how the season's going to go, or whether they be able to go to carnivals or not," Mrs Kelly said.
"A lot of people have taken advantage of the limited membership - they'll upgrade to a full carnival if they can go to more carnivals."
Recent rain in the southern areas of NSW has made a huge difference, but some northern and western clubs are still struggling.
"We've gone from one extreme to the other, where two carnivals had to cancel because they had too much rain," Mrs Kelly said.