Latest news with #GrahamCockerell
Sydney Morning Herald
6 days ago
- Climate
- Sydney Morning Herald
The trucks hauling the generosity of strangers into a green drought
Look closely and you'll see the green is no more than a thin shroud laid upon what, just a few weeks ago, was bare earth. Empty paddocks stretch away. Hard-pressed farmers have de-stocked, unable to afford to feed their animals. But where sheep still graze, their noses are pressed to the ground, their jaws working hard at drawing poor sustenance from the skimpy new growth. Cattle can't get their tongues around the mirage of grass. They stand defeated, waiting to rush the next expensive delivery of hay or grain. Here is a paradox: a green drought. As winter came and rain fell, satisfaction at dams filling was curbed by farmers' knowledge that the weather's long-awaited turn was a hoax. After crushing months of the familiar form of dry – the gasping paddocks turning to dusty parchment – the rains came too late, too far into winter's chill to stimulate anything but phantom growth. Venture out into these sham green plains of pain and you might come across convoys of trucks loaded with hay – great rolls of it, or big square bales stacked high. Loading The convoys haul from far away to try to help farmers battle through to spring, when that counterfeit green pick might transform into useful sustenance and debt-wearied land-holders might find the confidence to start rebuilding their flocks of sheep and herds of cattle. The momentousness of the convoys is that as the cost of hay and grain reaches to the moon, leaving many farmers despairing of making it to tomorrow or ever recovering, the trucks are supplying their loads of hay for free. The trucks that ground their way to Camperdown last Saturday night brought loads from as far distant as northern NSW worth half a million dollars. All of it, including the cost of running the trucks and fuel, was at no cost to farmers. The gift was arranged by the charity Need for Feed Australia, a project of Lions Clubs. It was established during southern Australia's worst big dry on record, the millennium drought from late 1996 to 2010. About halfway through that long agony, a fellow named Graham Cockerell was rocked to read that three farmers a week were taking their own lives. When he was just 11 years old, he suffered the pain of his own father's suicide on the family's farm. His father, like many others, had simply found himself in circumstances he couldn't control, and couldn't see a way out. Cockrell decided he wanted to try to save other families from experiencing his family's depths of anguish. And so he arranged to fill a small truck with hay, and he sent it to East Gippsland farmers burnt out in the drought-fuelled fires of 2006-2007. Since then, with the support of Lions Clubs all over the place, Cockrell's idea grew into Need for Feed, which became well-known for providing aid following the Black Saturday bushfires of 2009. Since then, Need for Feed, run totally by volunteers who give their time, trucks, fuel and fodder, has turned up regularly to help communities brought low by Australia's most familiar catastrophes: droughts, floods and fires. It estimates it has provided more than $45 million of assistance so far. Other organisations, like Aussie Hay Runners, do the same sort of thing. Only a couple of weeks ago the Hay Runners ran a convoy of donated hay from East Gippsland to areas around Colac and Hamilton in south-west Victoria. The motive behind this generosity? Five years ago, when Western Victoria's farmers were having a good season, they arranged to send truckloads of hay to help out East Gippsland farmers burnt out in devastating bushfires. Knowing about suffering, East Gippsland's farmers decided last month it was time to return the help they had received. In just three weeks, they gathered trucks and hundreds of donated hay bales and set out in convoy from Orbost. Elsewhere, another disaster relief charity, BlazeAid, raised enough money to cover the freight costs of hay coming from Queensland to western Victoria. Governments, of course, provide disaster relief, too. But in a drought, the Victorian government doesn't hand out money for fodder, arguing such a subsidy would send the price of hay and grain spiralling out of reach of farmers everywhere. And so, good-hearted people of the land, who know firsthand the torment of seeing their animals starving and families falling into despondency and worse, have taken the weight upon themselves to try to alleviate some of the suffering. It will never be enough, of course. As climate change forges on, the need for both immediate assistance and long-term innovation towards resilient, sustainable farming can only become more urgent. For the moment, however, it seems worth knowing that in a world as grim as ours, the old urge in country Australia to help out strangers in need – and let's call it loving your neighbours – has not surrendered.
The Age
6 days ago
- Climate
- The Age
The trucks hauling the generosity of strangers into a green drought
Look closely and you'll see the green is no more than a thin shroud laid upon what, just a few weeks ago, was bare earth. Empty paddocks stretch away. Hard-pressed farmers have de-stocked, unable to afford to feed their animals. But where sheep still graze, their noses are pressed to the ground, their jaws working hard at drawing poor sustenance from the skimpy new growth. Cattle can't get their tongues around the mirage of grass. They stand defeated, waiting to rush the next expensive delivery of hay or grain. Here is a paradox: a green drought. As winter came and rain fell, satisfaction at dams filling was curbed by farmers' knowledge that the weather's long-awaited turn was a hoax. After crushing months of the familiar form of dry – the gasping paddocks turning to dusty parchment – the rains came too late, too far into winter's chill to stimulate anything but phantom growth. Venture out into these sham green plains of pain and you might come across convoys of trucks loaded with hay – great rolls of it, or big square bales stacked high. Loading The convoys haul from far away to try to help farmers battle through to spring, when that counterfeit green pick might transform into useful sustenance and debt-wearied land-holders might find the confidence to start rebuilding their flocks of sheep and herds of cattle. The momentousness of the convoys is that as the cost of hay and grain reaches to the moon, leaving many farmers despairing of making it to tomorrow or ever recovering, the trucks are supplying their loads of hay for free. The trucks that ground their way to Camperdown last Saturday night brought loads from as far distant as northern NSW worth half a million dollars. All of it, including the cost of running the trucks and fuel, was at no cost to farmers. The gift was arranged by the charity Need for Feed Australia, a project of Lions Clubs. It was established during southern Australia's worst big dry on record, the millennium drought from late 1996 to 2010. About halfway through that long agony, a fellow named Graham Cockerell was rocked to read that three farmers a week were taking their own lives. When he was just 11 years old, he suffered the pain of his own father's suicide on the family's farm. His father, like many others, had simply found himself in circumstances he couldn't control, and couldn't see a way out. Cockrell decided he wanted to try to save other families from experiencing his family's depths of anguish. And so he arranged to fill a small truck with hay, and he sent it to East Gippsland farmers burnt out in the drought-fuelled fires of 2006-2007. Since then, with the support of Lions Clubs all over the place, Cockrell's idea grew into Need for Feed, which became well-known for providing aid following the Black Saturday bushfires of 2009. Since then, Need for Feed, run totally by volunteers who give their time, trucks, fuel and fodder, has turned up regularly to help communities brought low by Australia's most familiar catastrophes: droughts, floods and fires. It estimates it has provided more than $45 million of assistance so far. Other organisations, like Aussie Hay Runners, do the same sort of thing. Only a couple of weeks ago the Hay Runners ran a convoy of donated hay from East Gippsland to areas around Colac and Hamilton in south-west Victoria. The motive behind this generosity? Five years ago, when Western Victoria's farmers were having a good season, they arranged to send truckloads of hay to help out East Gippsland farmers burnt out in devastating bushfires. Knowing about suffering, East Gippsland's farmers decided last month it was time to return the help they had received. In just three weeks, they gathered trucks and hundreds of donated hay bales and set out in convoy from Orbost. Elsewhere, another disaster relief charity, BlazeAid, raised enough money to cover the freight costs of hay coming from Queensland to western Victoria. Governments, of course, provide disaster relief, too. But in a drought, the Victorian government doesn't hand out money for fodder, arguing such a subsidy would send the price of hay and grain spiralling out of reach of farmers everywhere. And so, good-hearted people of the land, who know firsthand the torment of seeing their animals starving and families falling into despondency and worse, have taken the weight upon themselves to try to alleviate some of the suffering. It will never be enough, of course. As climate change forges on, the need for both immediate assistance and long-term innovation towards resilient, sustainable farming can only become more urgent. For the moment, however, it seems worth knowing that in a world as grim as ours, the old urge in country Australia to help out strangers in need – and let's call it loving your neighbours – has not surrendered.
ABC News
05-06-2025
- Business
- ABC News
NSW farmers struggling to feed livestock in wake of Mid North Coast floods
Hay is precious on the Mid North Coast, where paddocks have turned to mud. Two weeks after record flooding swamped Tony Buttsworth's farm at Moorland, he's handfeeding hundreds of dairy cows with fodder. They're consuming around nine bales a day — as there are no green pastures left to graze on. But the lifelong farmer is worried about what will happen when the hay runs out. "At the moment, everything is just mud and slop and will take a long time to recover … we won't have any feed here until November or December, as grass," he said. Mr Buttsworth is grateful to have received some supplies through the generosity of Australians. Nearly two weeks ago, he appeared in an emotional interview with ABC News. At the time, he was filled with fear — and too exhausted to hide it. "There's nowhere dry for the cows, there's just no feed," he said tearfully, on May 25. "I don't know how to get out of this one." That prompted a show of support from friends and strangers — including some who provided feed for his cattle and others who started a GoFundMe page for his family. When Mr Buttsworth learned of the efforts to fundraise for his farm, he asked for the money to be donated to Need for Feed, an Australian charity that helps farmers in times of flood and drought. Over the weekend, the organisation rolled into the Mid North Coast with 15 trucks of fodder — enough to help around 50 farmers. Need for Feed founder Graham Cockerell said he has since received 150 more requests for help from primary producers from the region. He believes his team of volunteers will need to make regular hay deliveries to the region for the next three to six months. "The biggest problem is going to be supply and the cost of that supply," Mr Cockerell said. Hay is becoming increasingly scarce, and the cost has sky-rocketed in recent months, due to droughts in South Australia, Victoria and parts of New South Wales. "Six weeks ago, when we were trying to buy a heap of hay for South Australia, we were paying $200 to $250 a tonne," Mr Cockerell said. With supplies running low on the east coast of Australia, the organisation is considering paying top dollar to import fodder from Western Australia. There have also been calls for more government support for flood-hit farmers. This week, the state and federal governments announced they would split the bill to provide $25,000 grants for primary producers and small businesses affected by the disaster. Premier Chris Minns said he hoped the grants could be scaled up to $75,000 in the weeks ahead. "I genuinely do accept that this is a start," he told NSW Parliament this week. NSW Nationals leader Dugald Saunders said farmers had received $75,000 grants after the 2021 floods and that level of support "should be the starting point". "A dairy farmer who has a million dollars' worth of damage — to offer them a $25,000 grant, quite frankly it's a slap in the face," he said. Mr Buttsworth agreed larger grants would be needed to help primary producers fix their damaged properties. "$25,000 won't do much for many farmers who have been completely wiped out — some will never get going again," he said. The NSW government has not yet requested the highest level of disaster support from the federal government, as it is conducting further assessments of the scale of the damage. NSW recovery minister Janelle Saffin said this was in line with new federal guidelines, which required disaster grant funding requests to be made in stages. "This is a start … that's what we can do, put it out there, and then we'll see what else we can do," she said. In a statement to the ABC, federal Emergency Management Minister Kristy McBainsaid the Commonwealth "will continue to work hand in hand with the NSW Government and of course we will consider any additional funding requests from them when it is asked for".
