Stock routes and reserves in Narrabri and surrounding districts will soon be partially closed due to the ongoing dry conditions.
There is currently 12,000 head of cattle and 5,500 head of sheep with a permit to walk on stock routes within the North West Local Land Services area (LLS), which is made up of seven shires including Narrabri.
Another 7500 head of cattle and 1000 head of sheep have a permit to graze on reserves.
Narrabri Local Land Services General Manager, Ken Flower, is now reassessing what volume of livestock the routes and reserves can support.
"We can have up to 20,000 on walking permits in a good year, and this is certainly not a good year, so we’re looking at bringing levels down to 5 or 6000 on walking permits by the end of the year, which is pretty light for us but it is a drought," he said.
"We had 'destination only' restrictions on walking cattle from about August last year to June this year, and we were able to lift those restrictions due to rain in April.
“But it looks like in the next couple of weeks we’re going to have to re-introduce destination-only restrictions on grazing for mobs that hold a walking permit.
"Grazing permits on reserves will still be available where there is adequate grass, but that will be decided on a case by case basis."
He explains the importance of reducing stocking capacity, even though it means some farmers will have to move stock earlier than planned.
"We have got to keep stock routes in reasonable condition, so we have what we call the 70-30 rule that means we’ve got to have 70 percent ground cover, the reason being that if you go below that you lose your native grasses and you have weed problems," he said.
"In a farming situation you can handle that but when you have 3 people looking after 164,000 hectares we don’t have the resources to risk a weed invasion."
The travelling stock routes and reserve areas (TSRs) are an extensive network of public land which was established during colonisation for the purpose of droving cattle and sheep.
It’s managed by state and local governments, with a general view to assisting agricultural production, and anyone using the stock routes or reserves needs a permit.
Despite the tough times, Mr Flower said users of the stock routes have abided by the law.
"I'm pleased to say that most drovers are very capable and they look after stock very well," he said.
“We have had some challenges but the problems have more been to do with the drought rather than with management styles."
While many landholders often rely on stock routes to feed or transport livestock, Local Land Services is working to ensure the broader community also benefit from the natural resource.
The LLS branch in Narrabri will make a submission to the state government next year, outlining its plan to better accommodate other uses of the stock routes, like recreation, bee keeping and the harvesting of native grassland seed stocks in an effort to preserve some of the last remaining natural grasslands in the country.
Mr Flower believes the future is bright for TSRs in the Barwon LLS area.
"I call it our 165,000 ha community farm in the north west, it’s ours and we’ve got to look after it," he said.
"We want stock numbers to go back up to 20 and 30 and 40,000 but that will take the end of the drought."