‘Getting barer by the day’: drought conditions in SA and Victoria worsen, leaving rural communities in the dust

Sheep farmer Leonie Mills. Like most other livestock producers, Leonie and her husband, Jon, have cut sheep numbers – in their case by 40%. Photograph: supplied

Sam Neumann’s father saved his earnings as a shearer to buy their farm, Redgums, near Truro on the eastern side of the Barossa Ranges in South Australia, 55 years ago. It’s grown into a thriving sheep farm. But this year, Neumann says they have culled any unproductive stock and the remaining 400 merino ewes are lambing in bare paddocks.

“It’s just red dirt,” she says.