Bales and bales of hay are being delivered to drought-stricken pastoralists facing destocking in WA’s Mid West, with more hay runs to the Gascoyne Junction set to follow a successful delivery in January.
Thousands of hay bales will travel from Grass Patch and Beverley to Meekatharra and Cue in coming weeks, to give a helping hand to struggling pastoralists battling bone-dry conditions.
Farmers Across Borders chair Sam Starcevich said Gascoyne pastoralists were facing some of the worst conditions they ever experienced as a result of an ongoing drought in the region.
The first hay run of the year was successfully delivered to Gascoyne Junction between January 25 and 26, after departing from Esperance on January 23.
The second hay run began on January 30, with deliveries sporadically arriving in the Mid West each weekend onwards.
Ms Starcevich said the last three years had been “pretty ordinary”, with some pastoralists experiencing about 50mm of rain in comparison to their usual 200mm.
“We’re just trying to get the feed up there because they’re getting pretty desperate . . . some of the driest skies on record,” Ms Starcevich said.
She said the charity had received an “amazing” amount of support from farmers across WA with a significant amount of hay donated to the hay run.
The charity received more than 25 applications from Mid West pastoralists for fodder and hay to feed about 35,000 head of cattle affected by the drought.
Ms Starcevich said a questionnaire, required to be filled out in applying for aid, asked whether the pastoralist had destocked as a result of the drought.
“A lot of them — we did take feed up there in 2019 — have really destocked, they’re well under their stocking rates,” she said.
“I know a couple of them and I went; ’geez, they’ve really reduced compared to the last time’ — it’s really sad.”
Using fodder and hay donated by farmers from across the State, the bales are baled in Esperance, loaded onto trucks and road trains before embarking on the 17 to 18 hour drive to Gascoyne Junction in the Mid West.
“It’s really getting statewide, we have a lot of our truckies from over Katanning and York way, and our vice president is from Beverley,” Ms Starcevich said.
“We are spread out far and wide.”
About 11 different farming entities have donated “significant amounts” of hay for the run to the Mid West, but the charity is struggling amid rising freight costs.
“The reality is, we’re basically going from one end of the State to the other,” Ms Starcevich said.
“The distance is our biggest killer — the cost of getting it up there is over $6000 a truck load from Esperance.”
The charity lead said the creation of government freight subsidies for fodder would greatly assist the charity in delivering the much-needed assistance to pastoralists across the State and the country.
“We need help,” Ms Starcevich said.
“We’ve tried really hard to get some corporate sponsorship, but we get it for one offs or if we’re going east — people don’t want to support if it’s just going in WA, which is really sad and I don’t know why.
“We’re a grassroots operation and, apart from having to pay insurance and a bookkeeping fee, everything else goes on — fuel for the trucks or fuel for preparing for the runs and baling the straw.
“We’re all just volunteers and it takes up days and months of our time, but we keep doing it because people need it . . . we need to look after each other.”
Since establishing in 2019, Farmers Across Borders has delivered thousands of donated bales of hay across New South Wales, Queensland and WA to those in need.
