Unable to afford a full semi-trailer load of hay but needing more feed than charities are often able to provide, farmers such as Bridget Woods are among those falling between the gaps during South Australia’s ongoing drought.
The Peterborough livestock producer has resorted to dipping into her own superannuation to pay in bulk for hay for her struggling community.
Over the space of four months, Ms Woods estimates she has spent “probably $80,000” of her own super on trucked-in fodder, while struggling herself to feed her nearly 200 animals, including about 80 cattle and 100 ewes.
A Charolais cow and calf on one of the farms that accessed feed through Bridget Woods. (ABC North and West SA: Isabella Kelly)
“A lot of people have only got small numbers of stock left, and even getting a semi load of hay out, the cost behind that at the moment is astronomical,” Ms Woods said.
“If you’ve only got a few sheep or cattle left you don’t need a full semi load, so the idea was to source it and then people be able to share in loads.”
Though there was interest within the community to share a load, it had to be paid up-front.
A truckload of hay bought by Bridget Woods with her super. (Supplied: Bridget Woods)
Ms Woods decided she had two options: “Ask people to believe in me enough to hand over $5,000 for a truckload of hay” or buy it all her own and hope they paid her back.
“I didn’t have any other options,” she said.
“I was really scared about doing that, because I knew if it failed I was out of pocket and I had no way of recouping it.”
She took a leap of faith and a chunk out of her super and funded four separate deliveries.
As farmers bought feed from her in smaller amounts, she was able to recuperate her costs.
Circular fodder-funding solution
The circular model she set up proved to be an efficient solution, and one Ms Woods said could be adopted by other communities struggling with the drought.
Bridget Woods and Eileen Martin want to share the financial load for others in their community. (ABC Rural: Brooke Neindorf)
“The charities, they drop off four or five bales, which is absolutely wonderful and much needed, but it doesn’t fix your problem,” Ms Woods said.
“The sharing of loads is a solution that can work long term.”
The dry, red dirt of a drought-ravaged paddock on Bridget Woods’s Peterborough farm. (Supplied: Bridget Woods)
For now, Ms Woods said she could not afford any more load-sharing deliveries on her own, but alongside local Eileen Martin, she founded the Peterborough Drought Ready Group, which has been seeking funding.
The group is working towards measures to improve resilience in drought management and support the community.
“This is not our last drought,” Ms Woods said.
“This region goes in drought really commonly, but it could be [for] six months. So it’s not a crisis point in six months.
“It’s probably been at crisis point for maybe 18 months.”
The things people don’t see
Ms Woods estimated she has lost about 20 sheep this season, four horses, and about 18 cows, with a majority of the losses related to the drought.
“Some days you’re feeling sick driving into the paddock wondering what you’re going to deal with today,” she said.
“Who are you going to have to drag out of a water trough? Who are you going to have to shoot?
“You go out, you deal with that, you come home, and then you’ve got to move on like nothing has happened.
“It’s tough. It’s really tough.”
Accessing support
One person who has received feed from Ms Woods is Amee Dennis, who has about 100 animals at Quentin Park Alpacas and Studio Gallery, a working farm and agritourism experience.
Amee Dennis says drought relief comes with strict eligibility requirements. (ABC North and West SA: Isabella Kelly)
Her animals go through nearly three bales of hay a week, but she was allocated just one bale when the Rapid Relief Team delivered 1,200 bales to Jamestown on June 6 in a charity hay run.
“In theory, it looks like there’s a whole lot of support, but the reality of that is if you are slightly outside of the box, or a smaller producer rather than a large one, there isn’t,” Ms Dennis said.
She said several drought relief supports on offer from the government had strict eligibility requirements, including a need to be on the government’s Farm Household Allowance.
Amee Dennis uses the fibre from her alpacas to create art and jewellery on her Peterborough farm. (ABC North and West SA: Isabella Kelly)
“There are a number of us that can’t receive the Farm Household Allowance or aren’t eligible for it because we’ve had to go and do contract work, which means the majority of our income this year is not from the farm,” she said.
“And then you’ve got people like me whose income comes from the farm, but then [it] isn’t [in] a standard way, so it’s not the right tick box.”
Ms Dennis previously had an ongoing contract to receive 100 bales annually from a supplier, but he ran out 12 months ago.
Amee Dennis has about 100 animals and goes through nearly three bales of hay a week. (ABC North and West SA: Isabella Kelly)
Since then, she has gone from travelling 20 minutes for hay, to an hour, to two, to now being unable to find any.
One year ago she was spending about $350 a week on feed. That has risen to $1,200.
“There has essentially been this stress every week of, ‘Where are we going to get it this week?'”
Still a long way to go
South Australia has finally started to receive some rain in recent weeks, with 95 millimetres falling in Peterborough in July.
But by no means has the drought broken, and Ms Dennis knows from experience there is still a long way to go.
In the meantime, Ms Woods said the Peterborough Drought Ready Group needs support.
“We need sponsors, we need, I don’t know,” she said.
“We need a f***ing miracle.”