Need For Feed volunteers were at it again over the Kings Birthday long weekend, delivering a whopping 2000 bales of donated hay to 86 drought affected farming families.
The crew loaded up 40 trucks last Thursday and Friday before making their way to South Australia.
Their convoy included five road trains and B-triples, and six B-doubles, with a 53 trailers full of feed.
Truckies travelled from four states – Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania and parts of South Australia, picking up fodder from depots in Cobram in Victoria and Jindera in NSW.
The South Australian government’s Department of Primary Industries and Regions covered transport costs for the run and Need For Feed thanked them for working together to help make the run happen.
Many hay runners gathered at the Deni Ute Muster site, then travelled through Moulamein, Balranald, Mildura, Barmera, Morgan, arriving in Gladstone in South Australia, before splitting up to deliver across the state.
Included in this run was 200 tonnes of hay for the Fleurieu Peninsula, where a Drought Breakers dinner was held to raise money for Need For Feed.
Need For Feed has been supporting farmers in times of need since 2006 and its founder Graham Cockerell was a guest speaker for the Drought Breakers event, which raised almost $60,000 for the organisation.
It’s been a very busy time for Need For Feed volunteers, who completed two hay runs in two weekends. The week before the Kings Birthday run into South Australia, Need For Feed travelled into New South Wales, to assist farmers impacted by the Mid North Coast floods – making stops from Taree through to Kempsey.
Graham and his trusty 2007 Western Star have been involved in countless hay runs since Need For Feed began. And this time was no different, with Graham pulling a B-double filled with fodder across South Australia.
Graham’s Western Star. Image: Need For FeedHe explained that Need For Feed delivers hay straight to farms, with the amount each farmer/farming family receives based on their needs. “Some got a whole trailer load and some got a third, it was all based on their stock numbers,” Graham said.
Graham, who is based in Upper Beaconsfield, Victoria, was at Need For Feed’s fodder depot in Cobram when he chatted to Big Rigs this afternoon after a mammoth weekend effort.
As trucks rolled into South Australia across the weekend, volunteers were pleased to see the skies opening up too. “It started raining at lunchtime on Saturday and even today there was still some light rain. It was bucketing down on Saturday night too – the farmers definitely weren’t complaining about the rain. The western side of the state missed out though,” said Graham.
He and his crew of trucks arrived at farms across the state to a hero’s welcome.
“Many of the farmers we delivered to were close to tears,” Graham said.
Drought affected farmers Keith and Miriam with their kids, from Inman Valley, SA, were among the families to receive donated hay. Image: Need For FeedFor Inman Valley farmer Keith Ashby and his family, the sight of a truck full of hay came as a huge surprise when it arrived at the gate of his property.
Keith had applied to Need For Feed for fodder to feed his 750 cattle but when he filled out the form, he inadvertently put down the incorrect phone number.
“I had tried to call him but couldn’t get hold of him. When I rocked up there on Monday, his wife Miriam came out and her mouth nearly fell open,” said Graham.
Struggling to feed his herd, Keith began offloading some of his cattle last year – dropping herd numbers by 250 cattle.
Communities also came together to acknowledge the incredible efforts of Need For Feed volunteers.
Near Monash, there was a special shout-out to the truckies involved. Local Joy Stoeckel shared a photo of the sign that greeted truckies as they travelled through the town of Jamestown.
She says the sign was made by her nephew Don Heward using an old door and some paint.
“Don called me and said, I’d love to do something to thank the truckies – so we put an old door on the back of the ute and painted it up, then put it up on his tractor. Then the girls from the shops added some flags.”
They stood by the side of the road and waved to the truckies as they approached. “We stood there and waved to every one of the truckies as they came through,” Joy said.
“We didn’t have a lot of time to do up the old door but were so pleased with the tooting of horns and flashing of headlights as truckies acknowledged the sign on their way through.
“Where we parked the tractor, you can see in the photo just how dry the soil is.”
With this major hay run now complete, Need For Feed will look to its next two runs next month.
The team plans to head to south-west Victoria on the second weekend of July, and will then return to South Australia on the last weekend of July, this time focusing on the western side of the state.
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