Preparations are underway to rescue 1,000 sheep that have become stranded at Forbes in the New South Wales Central West ahead of forecast major flooding.
The ewes and lambs have become marooned in a paddock that is slowly filling with floodwater from the nearby Lachlan River.
Farmer Warren Bailey has owned the property for about 18 months and said he was assured the sheep would be safe in this particular paddock.
He said he had been trying to move them to higher ground for the past few weeks, but the wild weather has not helped.
"We're very concerned that it's got to the stage now that it might breach the banks, especially considering these sheep have been camped up on the levee banks probably the last three weeks because of the seepage," Mr Bailey said.
"The 100-hectare-odd paddock is probably down to three or four hectares now because of the seepage."
Bringing in the choppers
The wet conditions mean the sheep cannot be walked out from the paddock.
A call-out was made for help to find other ways to get the ewes and their lambs to higher ground.
Mr Bailey said he was working with Local Land Services and the State Emergency Service, which arranged for two helicopters to winch the sheep to safety on Thursday.
"We're currently looking at having to get a helicopter or two helicopters at this stage, with a possible back-up of a couple of boats if we can find them," he said.
Mr Bailey said he understood that the helicopters would use crates to carry approximately 20 to 30 animals at a time.
"They virtually only have to go 600 metres to a kilometre," he said.
Mr Bailey said he was looking forward to getting his flock to safety.
"They would be starting to get in the low condition," he said.
"They're still well and truly fit and there's no problems with them not being able to handle this transport, this evacuation.
"Obviously I'm going to feel a lot better when I do get them back across and we can get the feed cart going properly on them and not just feeding hay."
The river is expected to exceed the major flood level of 10.55m on Thursday and may reach 10.8m on Friday, which would be similar to a flood in June 1952.
