{"id":26699,"date":"2025-07-28T05:02:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T05:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/26699\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T05:02:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T05:02:12","slug":"hay-run-bringing-bales-but-also-smiles-to-drought-stricken-sa-farms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/26699\/","title":{"rendered":"Hay run bringing bales \u2014 but also smiles \u2014 to drought-stricken SA farms"},"content":{"rendered":"

At Elbow Hill, near the Lincoln and Birdseye Highways, the delivery of donated hay bales is a life-and-death matter for the sheep of Antonia Haselton and Michael Shakes.<\/p>\n

Their property outside Cowell on South Australia’s eastern Eyre Peninsula has, like countless farms across the state, been in the grip of devastating drought.<\/p>\n

“When Michael goes out each morning and picks up five or six dead lambs, it’s very depressing and it’s been very hard for him,” Antonia said.<\/p>\n

“We’re new to this area, too, so it has been a big struggle for us, that’s for sure.”<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Elbow Hill farmers Antonia Haselton and Michael Shakes have battled the impact of the drought. (ABC News: Che Chorley)<\/p>\n

Michael said that, after two bad years in a row, the venture was “not making any money” \u2014 but he could barely conceal his delight when he contemplated the arrival of relief.<\/p>\n

Michael and Antonia are among hundreds of property owners across South Australia who have looked west in search of salvation.<\/p>\n

On Friday, scores of trucks carrying thousands of hay bales left Norseman in WA to cross the Nullarbor<\/a>, bringing fodder to desperate farms.<\/p>\n

\"Hay<\/p>\n

Some of the convoy along a roadside. (ABC News: Che Chorley)<\/p>\n

“We’re going to get some of this wonderfully donated hay to feed our sheep, ewes and lambs,” Michael said.<\/p>\n

“We haven’t fed them for about three weeks now.<\/p>\n

“The lambing percentages were way down because it was so dry and the ewes weren’t looking after the lambs, they were just leaving them behind.”<\/p>\n

Organised by the charities Farmers Across Borders and Need for Feed, with support from the SA government, the 85-truck convoy arrived at Ceduna on Saturday afternoon and then pushed onto its final destination in Wudinna, before the drivers went their separate ways to deliver hay to farms across the state.<\/p>\n

\"Hay<\/p>\n

An estimated 400 farming businesses are receiving supplies. (ABC News: Che Chorley)<\/p>\n

Another recipient of the donated fodder is Daryl Smith, who has a couple of properties around Cowell on which he grows crops and runs between 2,000 and 3,000 sheep.<\/p>\n

His feed stores have been running extremely low.<\/p>\n

“We’re probably down to about two weeks’ worth, I would say, so what we pick up today hopefully will just get us over the line,” he said.<\/p>\n

Daryl has had to reduce numbers from his poll merino stud, and he said his upcoming ram sale in a week’s time would be down quite a bit.<\/p>\n

“Too many people have had to halve their numbers \u2014 it was just too hard for too long and there have been quite a few people that have had to get out altogether, and we can understand that,” he said.<\/p>\n

“When the country is bare and you have to make sacrifices somewhere.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Cowell farmer Daryl Smith says the hay convoy has boosted his fodder supply, but also his optimism. (ABC News: Che Chorley)<\/p>\n

The arrival of the convoy \u2014 and the 30 bales of hay he was allocated \u2014 has replenished not just his much-depleted feed stores, but his spirits.<\/p>\n

“You look at what’s happening around the world and you sort of lose faith in humanity,” he said.<\/p>\n

“When you see what is happening and something like this sort of makes you feel pretty good, there are still good people in the world.”‘Great cause makes it even more special’<\/p>\n

The trek has also warmed the hearts of the truckies.<\/p>\n

At Wudinna, where a hot meal was waiting at the end of the arduous crossing, several were openly moved by the scale of the operation.<\/p>\n

“The camaraderie \u2014 yeah, it’s been really, really good,” said driver James Demetriou, whose cargo was destined for farms around Adelaide.<\/p>\n

“It gets quite emotional, the farmers are so thankful. It makes you feel good.<\/p>\n

“A lot of people need a lot of help, and I’m in a position where I can help people so I’m more than willing to do it.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Truck driver Ken Schultz took pride and satisfaction in the journey. (ABC News: Che Chorley)<\/p>\n

Gippsland driver Ken Schultz said it had been a “pretty emotional” experience for him too.<\/p>\n

“It always is when you go to the farmers’ places, they’re pretty special people,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s good to give something back. It’s just what we do.”<\/p>\n

Mr Schultz will make his deliveries in the hills south of Adelaide, not far from the home of fellow convoy participants Jack and Tanya Traeger, who have deep personal reasons for wanting to be involved.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

For Currency Creek locals Jack and Tanya Traeger, it has been an emotional journey. (ABC News: Che Chorley)<\/p>\n

“It’s my first trip with my dad’s truck \u2014 he passed away a couple of years ago,” Currency Creek local Jack said.<\/p>\n

“It’s an old truck so I’ve been sitting [in] it since I was about six months old, so it’s good to be driving it.<\/p>\n

“I think he’d be pretty proud.<\/p>\n

“It’s a great cause and it makes it even more special, more important.”<\/p>\n

Cleve farmer Cassandra Elson said the hay delivery had arrived just in time for the lambs on her property.<\/p>\n

“I was happy to get out and help today and it’s just amazing that it has all come together in the end and we have ended up with something out of it,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It’s good to see in this part of the world.”<\/p>\n

\"Trucks<\/p>\n

Trucks have begun arriving on farms across SA. (ABC News: Che Chorley)<\/p>\n

Brady Siviour, who farms at Verran near Arno Bay and who applied for support, described the arrival of the fodder as a game changer for his livestock.<\/p>\n

“We ran out of feed months ago and [it’s important] to keep them happy and give them a bit of variation, instead of the grasses so they don’t just eat that down to keep their stomachs full,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Some days have been harder than others, and I was a bit emotional when we got approved \u2014 I was like, ‘far out’, and there was a bit of a tear in the eye last night.”<\/p>\n

When it comes to expressing their gratitude, all the farmers have been singing from the same hymn sheet.<\/p>\n

“I just want to thank our Western Australia counterparts for bringing this hay and taking time out of their busy schedule,” Brady said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Farmers remain cautious, but the outlook is looking a little more positive. (ABC News: Che Chorley)<\/p>\n

Elbow Hill’s Michael Shakes seconded that motion.<\/p>\n

“Western Australia’s very generous,” he said, and he was unequivocal about the impact the hay would have.<\/p>\n

“We won’t have any dead sheep, we’ll have live sheep.<\/p>\n

“That’s the main thing.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At Elbow Hill, near the Lincoln and Birdseye Highways, the delivery of donated hay bales is a life-and-death…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,25978,13331,25977,5864,4358,25980,25982,25979,25983,25975,22124,44,25984,25656,25976,25981],"class_list":["post-26699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bales","tag-cattle","tag-convoy","tag-driver","tag-drought","tag-farmer","tag-farmers-across-borders","tag-farms","tag-fodder","tag-hay","tag-need-for-feed","tag-news","tag-relief","tag-sheep","tag-truck","tag-truckies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}