Australia Weather News
Aerial view of Barkly Tablelands during the wet season - ABC
The Australian Agricultural Company (AACo) has confirmed to ABC Rural that a "few hundred" cattle have drowned on Brunette Downs Station this week.
The 1.2 million hectare property, in the Northern Territory's Barkly Tablelands, has received steady rain over the past fortnight, combined with extreme fluctuations in temperature and strong winds.
AACo would not provide detailed comment on the incident, but confirmed the poor weather had unfortunately led to the deaths of cattle "in the low hundreds," which it said represented a very small percentage of its 110,000 strong herd in the Barkly region.
Other stations in the Barkly region are believed to have faced similar issues this week.
It is understood attempts to move cattle to higher ground on Brunette Downs were hampered because helicopters were unable to fly in the conditions.
AACo said station staff had worked extremely hard to protect thousands more cattle from the flooding.
The weather bureau is forecasting more showers and storms early next week for the Barkly, although they are expected to be isolated.
With live export prices at an all time high, even small stock losses will prove costly for northern cattle stations.
ABC