Incredible rural scene brings 'glimmer of hope' to struggling Aussies
Driving down a dusty, dry Aussie road on Thursday morning, Dorothy Crosby was mesmerised by the incredible scene unfolding in front of her. There, in the middle of drought-stricken South Australia, a rainbow suddenly appeared like a 'glimmer of hope' in the sky after a sprinkle of much-needed rainfall.
'When I saw that rainbow, I just thought this hay is like a gift of hope as well,' the counsellor for Rural Aid told Yahoo News Australia. For the past few weeks she has been helping deliver bales of feed to struggling farmers in the lower Flinders Ranges as the entire state continues to suffer through a historic two-year-long drought, which has forced many to sell off large portions of their livestock.
'On the ground, I see the encouragement that that hay is bringing,' Crosby said. 'The farmers themselves are so resilient, and they're managing their resources as wisely as they can. A lot of them have had to de-stock, and they're just trying to sustain their breeding stock so that when the drought ends, they can kind of rebuild again. But I think that they need to be seen.'
Farmers around the country are under significant strain, with those in south-eastern Australia praying for rain and others in NSW begging for the 'one-in-500 year' floods to stop.
Answering their calls for help has also placed pressure on charities dedicated to helping Australia's agriculture community, with several rallying in recent weeks and travelling thousands of kilometres to drop off hay donations to hundreds of rural properties in SA.
Over the King's Birthday weekend, a whopping 2,000 tonnes of hay loaded onto 40 trucks were handed out to 86 families in the Fleurieu Peninsula by Need for Feed volunteers.
Rapid Relief Team volunteers also travelled more than 1,700km to drop off supplies to over 200 farmers in the mid-north, with Rural Aid, Aussie Hay Runners and Farmer's Relief Agency all joining the collaborative effort.
Leon Hams, a sheep farmer for over 30 years, told Yahoo he was 'excited' to recently receive 11 bales from Rapid Relief, and that the effort was 'very much appreciated' by everyone in the Jamestown area. The lingering drought forced Hams to sell half of his livestock earlier this year so he could properly care for those animals that remained.
'It's been very hard trying to survive and put feed on the table and pay your bills — your power bills and your fuel bills, they don't disappear, you still got to pay them,' Hams, who is now using the donated hay 'sparingly' and intermittently with barley, said.
He added it has been a 'very hard and difficult year' for everyone in his community, with some farmers forced to refinance their properties just to keep up.
'It's just been a real disaster. It's not just the farmers. Everyone talks about the farmers, but it's not just the farmers. It's the whole community. The town's suffering because the farmers haven't got the money to spend at the businesses in town,' he said, noting his dad, who has lived off the land his entire life, said he's never seen a drought this bad before.
Parts of the state received some patchy rainfall last weekend, bringing some slight relief, but much more consistent precipitation is needed.
'It's given everyone a little bit of hope for the future. Unfortunately, it doesn't rain feed, but it'll start the feed off. Let's hope we have a good, reasonable year this year, and break even and go on the following years, and we don't have to ever experience this again.'
Sadly, the Bureau of Meteorology's long-range forecast predicts rainfall will likely remain below average across southwestern WA, far south-eastern SA, much of Victoria and the alpine region of NSW throughout July.
However, more help is on the way, with SA farmers expected to receive another 6,000 bales of feed from WA by the end of next month.
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