General News
23 May, 2025
Community donates hay
Some 203 hay bales have been donated to rural farms in Queensland impacted by last month’s unprecedented flooding thanks to Natte Yallock Landcare.
Five full semi-loads of hay bales have been driven interstate, weighing 12 tonnes and worth around $42,000.
John Hanley is one of the many local farmers who organised the deliveries, and said it was the group’s way of helping the severely impacted farmers, despite being over a thousand kilometres away.
“I spoke to one farmer who rang to thank us for the hay, he said he lost 2500 full wool sheep, 25 rams and 65 kilometres of fencing. The fencing is an enormous job just to keep the livestock in an area,” he said.
“Another problem he mentioned was when the water receded, the soil crusted on top preventing the new plant shoots to get through that crust.
“It was too far to go for fencing, but the easiest way was to get a bit of hay. So, we had a guy offer to drive the hay up there. He said, ‘I’ll do it if you have the hay’ so we rang a few people who had hay to help out.”
Thousands of kilometres of properties and roads were damaged last month throughout the south of Queensland due to record flooding.
The unprecedented flooding caused significant disruptions to livestock feed sources, inundating pastures, damaging infrastructure and contaminating hay.
In an over 16 hour transfer covering 1500 km, the load has already been delivered to a farm between Quilpie and Toompine in Queensland’s south west.
This was the only farm that trucks could access, yet eight neighbouring farms now have access to the hay and have taken as needed.
Those who were unable to donate hay, donated diesel instead.
“Some farmers who didn’t have hay donated fuel to help get the hay north, it takes a lot of diesel per load,” Mr Hanley said.
He has acknowledged the contributing farmers for their generosity.
“This has been a great effort from the Natte Yallock, Bealiba and Dunluce area, almost every farmer with big square bales has donated between 10-20 bales of good hay, that is a magnificent donation in a year when hay is scarce,” Mr Hanley said.
At the recent Natte Yallock Landcare meeting, members were thanked on behalf of farmers based in Queensland who received the generous donation of hay.