DESPITE seemingly never-ending feeding regimes and rain that never comes, exhibitors at this year's AgQuip Field Days were surprised by farmers' positive outlook and their propensity to better prepare themselves for the next big dry.
And that was why water infrastructure was among the top-selling items at the three-day event.
Ron James, who sells Kingspan Rhino Tanks across the entire east coast of Australia, said he couldn't believe how much money people were spending during a drought.
"There is very specific drought funding," he said, "that deals with tanks, troughs and pipes and I guess that's helping. Really you need five days of water in tank at any given time".
"In the summer cattle will drink 65 litres of water a day, which gives you some idea of your needs.
"But if anything goes wrong you need to be able to cover travel and repair times," he said. That's where accurate, real-time water monitoring comes in," said Martin Boniface, owner of AgMon, a North Queensland-based company that manufactures remote water monitoring systems.
"We were a pioneer in remote water monitoring 10 years ago," he said. The company currently uses the 3G/4G mobile communications system via text or email to alert landholders if their tanks drop to 20 per cent of capacity. "We've even got a pre-recorded alert that can call the homestead's landline," he said.
Lorne Bobort, from Camel Tanks, which has factories at Dalby and Coffs Harbour, said he knew people were doing it tough, "but they know they have to have tanks installed before it rains, because our rain has become so sporadic".
Jared Wilson, of Pioneer Tanks, said his company had sold a few tanks and most customers were looking to "future proof" their farms, "people realise they need more storage, when the rain does come everyone wants full tanks". Heritage Tanks eastern states sales manager Nick Szutenko said he was a bit surprised to be selling tanks even on day one.
"I noticed an upturn straight after the election," he said, "it doesn't matter what political persuasion you are, an election result creates certainty."
At the Hansen site, the New Zealand company was targeting smaller hobby farm irrigators with its "irrapods", large sprinklers that are joined by 32-millimetre, low-density polyethelene.
Brad Singleton of All Seasons Irrigation at Aberdeen, which also sells Pioneer Tanks, said people were gearing up for when it does rain.
He said when it came to stock water, it was safer in a tank than a dam.
Said Mr Szutenko: "really, things are pretty desperate, we're not talking about impulse buying here."
