MySwag.org The Off-road Camper Trailer Forum
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: avotrol on August 11, 2018, 11:24:44 AM
-
As everyone is (or should be) aware, with the ongoing drought, the situation for many NSW and Queensland farmers in particular, is now reaching the critical stage, with many farmers now literally on their last legs.
Most farmers have kept their problems to themselves and have been battling the drought for years, but have now reached the point where their reserves are 99.8% depleted and are at an absolute crisis point, which is why they are finally asking for help.
Unfortunately, for many farmers, they are unable to sell off anymore stock as the animals are in such poor condition. This in turn has led some poor blokes to sink to total despair and take their own lives. Suicides in the bush have increased 70 - 100%. One desperate bloke, after being unable to sell his cattle due to their poor condition, took them home, shot them, then shot himself. An absolute tragedy.
Any help that the rest of us can give is desperately needed and thoroughly appreciated. There are many organisations that are doing their best to help and donations can be made to them, such as Apex, Rotary, 4x4 clubs, facebook groups, school groups, Today show and many more. Even if it ultimately doesn't save individual farms from the drought, showing we all care could result in saving farmers lives by letting them know that people cared about them enough to help and that they are not alone.
In the meantime, through friends of family, I personally know of some farmers at Bathurst who have less then 4 weeks supply of hay and have no reserves for anymore, even their pantries are basically empty. They have applied for assistance but have not received any. They have already reduced their sheep numbers by 80% to stay alive and now only have a few hundred left, and these are in too poor a condition for market. They don't know what else to do.
My appeal here is, does anyone know somewhere within a few hours of Sydney where we can source hay, especially lucerne hay, at a reasonable price, as the ewes are lambing and need good nourishment. I have a crane truck that carries 7 tons so transport is not a problem. I have seen hay advertised on Gumtree etc and would need around $4000 to buy a load which would keep this particular farm in feed for a month. Also looking for a source for Sheep Nuts. A few friends have said they will chip in to help financially which is fantastic.
If anyone has any ideas, please share. I have tried some of the existing support groups but they are all under such massive strain already. This is just a way of helping one farming family to stay alive. After all, no farmers means no food. Thanks everyone.
Cheers, Tim
-
Hopefully now that the media are running with it things may start to finally happen. The more big companies get on board the more that will hopefully follow, even if it is just for bragging rights. If they’re going to tip in, let em brag as long as it’s helping these families out. I know I’m now contributing each month and while it’s not a huge amount if everyone can just put in a little bit, it’ll soon add up.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
-
So long as any money's donated goes to where is should. I'm pretty sure that all what was raised for Black Saturday bushfires did not make it into the hands of those affected, despite what the Government tells us.
-
So long as any money's donated goes to where is should. I'm pretty sure that all what was raised for Black Saturday bushfires did not make it into the hands of those affected, despite what the Government tells us.
They are still working out who to distribute it to.. should only take another 10 -15 years.
-
Yep, just like the donated monies for the 2009 wildfires in Vic.
Government stepped in and took it, and the lawyers have been chewing on it ever since.
Meanwhile the deserving victims get a dribble now and again.
-
My concern is not so much for the farmers but for the the animals.
Yes I know where the animals end up but one thing that breaks my heart is seeing a defenseless animal suffer.
Dont get me wrong I feel for the farmer as wel, but we take on our occupation in life knowing what the potential hard times can bring.
I know this post wont be popular but thats just the way it is for me.
-
I know this thread is looking at the need for feed, there are also lots of drives for giving the farm families care packages etc.
Whilst the idea of filling a truck with non-perishables seems great; the effect of that money not being spent in the local town is the next problem that is beginning to pop up... We're already starting to see the drop in spending from the farm families around here, so it's happening already...
Please make sure that the stuff is bought local to the destination - it means that $ is going to do more...
-
A lot of this is caused by a lack of water as well.
Can't feed them and expect them to survive without water to drink as well, human or animal.
-
A lot of this is caused by a lack of water as well.
Can't feed them and expect them to survive without water to drink as well, human or animal.
This is true in many cases which is why farmers, and even entire towns, are trucking in water. In the case of the farmer that we are trying to help, he is lucky as his sheep can access the Macquarie river (or more like the Macquarie trickle) for a drink, he just can't irrigate from it. So if we can get him feed, thats one more farm saved. In the overall scheme of things its not much, but you have to start somewhere.
Cheers, Tim
-
My concern is not so much for the farmers but for the the animals.
Yes I know where the animals end up but one thing that breaks my heart is seeing a defenseless animal suffer.
Dont get me wrong I feel for the farmer as wel, but we take on our occupation in life knowing what the potential hard times can bring.
I know this post wont be popular but thats just the way it is for me.
I,m with you mate. Humans have an absolute choice on how they handle their life. Animals are at our mercy and far too many times are forgotten, mistreated or just left for dead. Just shows what a pathetic lifeform man really is when he cant look after the less fortunate in the world..including his fellow man!
-
I wonder what infastructure is being considered to try and alleviate the effects of the drought for the future.
Mrk
-
See the government is hitting back over all the negative comments being made through online forums etc. They say don't believe everything you read on them. We don't send that much money overseas. It's less than .1% of the budget. And it's needed on an international basis. Isn't there a saying that goes like "charity begins at home". The second part is "and it get sent to overseas."
-
I wonder what infastructure is being considered to try and alleviate the effects of the drought for the future.
Hope you dont expect our pollys to give a Shit?
Simple solution to them would be sell it to the Chinese and let them do something with it.
-
I wonder what infastructure is being considered to try and alleviate the effects of the drought for the future.
Mrk
Shouldn't this comment be in the "funnies" section???
-
For those who say the farmers have a choice, I just want to toss a few points out for consideration. Coming from a farming family, and raised in a farming community, with family and some of my closest friends still on the land... well, perhaps I have a different perspective.
- Yes, they have a choice. But for those who were born and raised on these farms, well, some have less "choice" than you realise. Take the situation where parents either pass away, are in ill health, or age means they're unable to continue. Many kids raised on the land feel a certain obligation to continue the family legacy. I know they're not tied down with chains to the land. But for some of them it is "their cross to bear" as generations of their families did before, it's in their blood, and there's a lot of pride and responsibility not to let it fall apart on their watch.
- Many farms, particularly today, rely on a large amount of debt. It may not be entirely the fault of the younger generation who are now in charge. Some inherit properties with massive amounts of debt where they could walk away, sell the farm, and still be paying the banks of for years to come without ever taking out a loan themselves. You're talking properties worth millions, owned by a single person, a couple, or a family in many cases. For many, they hope each year that the "product" they sell (whether that be meat, fleece, milk, crops, etc.) covers their costs. Some (many?) don't pay themselves a wage. If they did walk away, what does their future look like? Will they be able to get a job? Buy even a basic home in town? Or will they always be going backwards saddled with the debt they were unfortunate enough to be born into (or have got into themselves taking a gamble, hoping for the days when it did rain, when stock or crop prices go up, etc.?)?
- A lot of farmers would be considered "unskilled labour" in the wider workforce. Some have no qualifications to their name. No formal licences for some of the machinery they learned how to operate out of necessity. Nothing other than a lifetime of learning picked up from farm work. Sure they have skills. Many farmers I know can fix anything, build anything, nurse stock through ill health, educate their children, etc. But they have nothing on paper to prove it. And as self-employed people, they don't even have someone who can act as a real referee and back up the experience they have. How does someone in that situation start over? What about when they're 60, flat broke, and up to their eyeballs in debt?
I get why a bullet to the head looks like the only way out in times like this. You're talking about people who have been self-reliant, resourceful, and tough seeing themselves flat out of options. For them in that moment there really is no hope.
I really feel for the farmers - the men, women and families who bust their gut to put food on our tables, clothes on our backs, etc. No one is denying that the suffering of livestock on a scale like this is anything less of devastating, least of all the farmers. The thought of their animals suffering sickens those I know on the land, keeps them up at night long before you see a trace of it on the news. No farmer I know is in this gig just for the pay cheque. Their farms are their heart and soul and all they know how to do. Believe me when I say they care about the welfare of their stock more than you or I ever could. It is far more than just a job to them. They know no other way of life. To them, farming IS their life.
-
Well stated.
-
Trinityalyce, great post well articulated and spot on. :cup:
-
Great post Trinityalice spot on I come from farming stock but the family sold out of it when I was young even back then it amounted to nothing financially other than no more debt
With these fines the government is issuing to the banking sector I would hope they consider using some if not all to help the farmers and even start planning a way to “drought proof” some areas.
-
Great post Trinityalice spot on I come from farming stock but the family sold out of it when I was young even back then it amounted to nothing financially other than no more debt
With these fines the government is issuing to the banking sector I would hope they consider using some if not all to help the farmers and even start planning a way to “drought proof” some areas.
Hahaha you’re hilarious.... I don’t think the government really give a toss
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
-
Hahaha you’re hilarious.... I don’t think the government really give a toss
sadly agree
-
Hahaha you’re hilarious.... I don’t think the government have the foresight
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
fixed it for ya >:( >:(
-
Triityalyce,
thanks for a great post,a lot more diplomatic then i would have been.I have grown up and work on farms in central NSW all my life and have never seen it as wide spread as this with no options but to feed or sell,with most having to make this call with in the next month around this area.If people are worried that their money is not making it to the farmers, then have a look for rural events,hook up the camper and support them and their towns,and have an adventure at the same time.
Cheers camp120
-
See the government is hitting back over all the negative comments being made through online forums etc. They say don't believe everything you read on them. We don't send that much money overseas. It's less than .1% of the budget. And it's needed on an international basis. Isn't there a saying that goes like "charity begins at home". The second part is "and it get sent to overseas."
The problem with the quote of less than .1% of the budget going to overseas aid etc is that it is borrowed money and what is worse is that what is the percentage then that is going to Australians because I reckon it is a hell of a lot less than the overseas aid budget.
-
Triityalyce,
If people are worried that their money is not making it to the farmers, then have a look for rural events,hook up the camper and support them and their towns,and have an adventure at the same time.
Cheers camp120
Couldn't agree more.
Great opportunity to do that 21 till 23 August at the largest Ag show in Australia , AgQuip at Gunnedah. https://fairfaxruralevents.com.au/agquip/home/
Our Van was prepared today ready to roll for the annual pilgrimage to AgQuip. This year the wife is coming so we are doing a circuit back to the Blue Mts, Mudgee, Gunnedah, Moree and then up to Gympie for the Music Muster.
Looking forward to the trip and we have spoken about the opportunity to donate along the way.
-
Yep, mate of mine goes every year to AgQuip and this time I'm finally going too. Have been looking forward to it for ages. Hopefully might make some contacts for sourcing feed.
Am meeting a lady in Tamworth on this weekends hay run (organised by others) from the good people of Nambucca to Tamworth. She voluntarily co-ordinates feed and other donated items to send to farmers all over the west and is flat out. Sadly, she told me that one big problem she has is finding secure places to store the goodies otherwise it gets stolen, not by the farmers, but by low lives who try to profit from it >:( >:( >:(
-
A lot of this is caused by a lack of water as well.
Can't feed them and expect them to survive without water to drink as well, human or animal.
Yeah, they reckon it's one of, if not the biggest causes of drought.
-
Got this today in our club mail
With one of the driest winters on record our rural communities are struggling. GME is lending a helping hand by donating 10% of the revenue generated from the sale of selected XRS products to the Buy A Bale Drought Assistance Program, a charity effort which provides farmers in need with fodder and water for their livestock.
Please find attached the a media release for our XRS Drought Relief Fundraising Campaign.
If you have any queries please let us know.
Kind regards,
Lewis Pascoe
Marketing Assistant
GME Drought Relief Fundraising Campaign
This year has been one of the driest in recent history, resulting in many of our rural communities suffering the impact of a severe drought affecting our farmers and livestock.
At GME we take pride in being an Australian company and having a strong relationship with our farmers and the rural community. As a result, we are undertaking a Drought Relief Fundraising Campaign where we will be raising much needed funds for the Buy A Bale Drought Assistance Campaign. The Buy A Bale Drought Assistance campaign is operated by the charity Rural Aid and operates throughout Australia.
Buy A Bale has been operating since June 2013 and in this time, the program has received over $4.5 million in donations and delivered over 200,000 bales of hay to farmers in need across four states.
To assist in raising these funds we will run an XRS™ Connect Drought Relief Promotion. From the 15th of August until the 15th of September GME will donate 10% of revenue generated from the purchase of selected XRS products directly to Buy A Bale.
All funds raised by GME will have an immediate impact on supplying vital resources to farmers such as; Water - Every $250 delivers 11,500 litres of water to a farm within 100kms of the collection point and, Hay - $9,500 buys a semi-trailer load of hay and transports it to an affected area up to 900kms away
For further information regarding Buy A Bale, please visit; https://www.buyabale.com.au/ (https://www.buyabale.com.au/)
For any further information or clarification, please contact GME Sales on 1300 463 463.
-
Yeah, they reckon it's one of, if not the biggest causes of drought.
Nobody with influence has mentioned anything about trucking water into these areas.
Would have thought it would have been something extremely high, if not top of the agenda, along with the Stock food.
At least Gov. funding for Water Bores in these areas.
Not just Buggr'em let 'em work it out themselves from all sorts of people.
-
A long post I've already left elsewhere:
Many regional areas are heavily reliant on agriculture for employment, and that trickles into many different industries as it goes along. If farms aren't able to spend in the local towns then they start to dry up as well... What needs to happen therefore is to ensure that we have diverse communities of industries out in the regions (not just manufacturing, but services economies etc) that are able to generate income from outside the immediate area.
I'd suspect that even Armidale, which has a bigger education sector will start to suffer at the end of the year as students stay home to work on the farm into 2019 as plantings have failed (at a high cost) and there are low stock numbers.
However, a couple of simple things and some bigger ones:
1) Stop pissing water over the coal mines to keep dust down - if there's a drought, then let's use the water to sustain life... and stop the mining for a bit... yes, that'll cost jobs, but it's better than blatantly wasting it...
2) Improve infrastructure in regional areas that is working on water security - I know of at least 2 pipelines that are being proposed to improve water security running from existing dams to smaller towns in the surrounds. We're at the point that whole towns are now running out of water, never mind the farms. Water trucks are typically running at about 2 weeks lead time now....
3) Offer meaningful subsidies for installing on-farm solar systems for pumping and bores. Remember that rural power costs are higher than in cities - even down to moving house, it costs $100 to get the exit and entry meter read done... $200 to move house... in Newcastle, that would be less than $50....
4) Ensure that there is a sufficiently large insurance market for multi-peril crop insurance: this would help smooth some of the costs that farmers incur when crops fail after planting.
5) Keep promoting the export market opportunities for Australian products - this helps to create a price floor for viable products
6) Improve road transport links - just because a bit of road doesn't have 50,000 cars a day travelling on it, doesn't mean that it's worthless. If it has 4 B-Doubles of stock a day on it, then that's probably over $2m of cattle moved on it... That's got to be worth something, hasn't it?
7) Get on with improving the rail network so we can shift more bulk goods easily.
8) Make sure that consumers know what's going on outside the cities... this has been ticking for a long time - I know when I flew down to Sydney in March it was looking very brown all the way to the Barringtons from the NENW of NSW.
9) Understand that no matter how tough and rough a farmer looks, they love their stock as much as they love their families (I'm sure in some cases more than they love their families) and that they take any failure personally. We're seeing it with a number of colleagues and friends at the moment - all big farmers in their 50s and they're battling it, reluctant to accept help as they feel that means they've failed.
10) Get out of the town you're in, and go and spend some money in the drought affected areas so that there is an injection of cash into the towns. Quite often one person is working the farm in the household, whilst the other is working in town. If that means that the person in town still has a job next week, then that means they might be able to put some feed on the ground, some food on the table or some water in the tanks.
11) It's going to get worse. Most of the farmers here have August Calving, so they've not been able to move the cows off in July as that risks losing the cow and the calf through miscarriage. Certainly one neighbour (who is a farmer) already has one 2 week old poddy calf in the garden... it won't be the last. The cow gave birth and then wasn't able to get up.
-
Well said, Paddler.
-
Nobody with influence has mentioned anything about trucking water into these areas.
Would have thought it would have been something extremely high, if not top of the agenda, along with the Stock food.
At least Gov. funding for Water Bores in these areas.
Not just Buggr'em let 'em work it out themselves from all sorts of people.
I was just pointing out the, glaringly obvious, statement about the shortage of water during a drought. But anyway LOL
Actually the drought assistance freight subsidies is also for freight of water and livestock, not just fodder.
-
What about our lunatic government restricting the clearing of Mulga on farms.............
Mulga has kept alot of these farms going for the last few years, but farmers can't clear the amounts needed to feed cattle.
Its a weed and when it grows uncontrolled it creates desert of mulga where nothing else can grow. Just another nail in the coffin.
-
So we are still looking for hay if any ones got any suggestions?
-
So we are still looking for hay if any ones got any suggestions?
You're going to be looking to WA; there's a possibility that SA still has some - If I'd seen this earlier I could have asked my friend who has organised a few trucks to here now; last lot I think she managed to rustle some up from QLD.
One of the big problems with buying interstate hay and feed is the biosecurity risk of weed spread...
https://grdc.com.au/news-and-media/news-and-media-releases/north/2018/07/hay-movement-prompts-weed-control-concerns (https://grdc.com.au/news-and-media/news-and-media-releases/north/2018/07/hay-movement-prompts-weed-control-concerns)
and The Land's coverage on it https://www.theland.com.au/story/5518619/hay-movement-prompts-weed-control-concerns/ (https://www.theland.com.au/story/5518619/hay-movement-prompts-weed-control-concerns/)
Sorry to be a dampner on good intentions - but it really shows the challenges that are faced in these times...
-
Yes, it appears that Victoria is out of hay, with nothing till mid October with the next cut. Can get hay from Kununurra but its 4200km from Sydney :-[
Thanks for the article about weed spread. Had not thought about that but will mention it to the farmers we know.
Cheers, Tim
-
try here
https://www.feedcentral.com.au/buyhayandgrain/ (https://www.feedcentral.com.au/buyhayandgrain/)