WA truckies have successfully delivered almost 6000 bales of hay to farming families across SA on mercy dash
The 86-truck mercy dash broke records when it departed from Fraser Range Station on the Nullabor on Friday, bringing practical support and hope to farmers battling ongoing dry conditions.
The powerful grassroots effort driven by Farmers Across Borders and Need for Feed was both organisations' biggest interstate convoy to date.
More than 400 farming families — and roughly 450,000 livestock — benefited from the delivery which aimed to ease financial pressure and protect the wellbeing of both livestock and farmers.
Since establishing in 2019, Farmers Across Borders has delivered 15,000 donated bales of hay across New South Wales, Queensland and WA to those in need — making this run of 6000 bales a mammoth effort for the volunteer-run organisation.
The South Australian hay run was more than double the size of Farmers Across Borders' Australia Day hay run record in 2020, when 20 trucks delivered 2000 tonnes of feed to 60 stations across Gascoyne and Murchison.
'We've had an incredible team of volunteers, generous donors, and essential support from both states,' she said.
'We're proud to stand beside South Australian farmers in their time of need.'
Truckies and their support crews travelled more than 1300km to reach the assembly point in Wudinna on July 26 before splitting off to various drop off locations within the State.
Four waves of road trains made the trek in 30-minute intervals, departing Fraser Range around midday on July 25 after a delay due to freak weather including 100kmph winds.
To put it into perspective, if the convoy was to line up back-to-back, it would cover 5km of road.
There were both tears and cheers as the convoy rolled into the quarantine checkpoint at the border, after witnessing the welcoming committee of locals on arrival.
Countless farms across the state have been in the grip of devastating drought with many areas having recorded record-low rainfall over the past 12 months.
According to data from the Bureau of Meteorology, the Mid North and upper Eyre Peninsula were the the worst affected.
Widespread heavy rain fell across SA this week and will continue to fall in the coming days however, livestock were still being hand-fed daily and farmers were exhausted.
The continued rainfall and donated hay boost have alleviated some of this difficulty.
SA Primary Industry Minister Clare Scriven said the run was 'one of the biggest we've seen' to South Australia and brought the number of farmers helped since the start of 2025 to almost 2000, including dairy farmers.
South Australian Dairyfarmers' Association president Robert Brokenshire said without the support, many farmers would have had to dry their cows off or sell them which would have resulted in a milk shortage across the State.
The Herculean effort was supported by 'top-notch' pit stops along the way — including the communities at Cocklebiddy, Caiguna, Ceduna and Wudinna — as well as multiple support services, hundreds of volunteers and fuel subsidy support from the SA government.
SA's drought support Commissioner Alex Zimmerman met the convoy at Wudinna and offered support on the ground.
A mammoth journey:
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