On May 22, exhausted cattle and sodden grass could be seen across farmland in the mid-north coast, which bore the brunt of the devastating floods.
Dairy farmer Emily Neilson watched paddocks sink into the swollen Stewarts River on her property north of Taree.
“We need to move the cows to areas that don’t get too muddy because if they end up sitting in really muddy areas, we get really sick cows,” she said.
“It’s going to take weeks for this to dry out, so even once the rain stops and the sun comes out, the situation won’t change.
“Unless we can get some sort of government grant to cover the repairs, we can’t fix this.”
Australian Dairy Farmers said the region was battling the worst floods in living memory.
“Dairy farmers can’t simply stop milking their cows when a flood hits,” ADF president Ben Bennett said.
“This, combined with stock losses and the pressures of losing electricity, pasture and fodder, has left many farmers in dire need of assistance,” he said.
“We welcome the natural disaster declaration for flood-affected parts of NSW, but more must be done to help dairy farmers.
“We call on governments to offer primary producers assistance with the clean-up and recovery, given the severity of this disaster.
“Farmers are telling us these floods are the worst in decades, perhaps even the worst in living memory, with the floods described as a one-in-500 year event.
“I can’t stress enough he importance of putting plans in place now to ensure assistance flows as soon as the water recedes.”
Mr Bennett said rebuilding from this event would be particularly difficult for dairy farmers, given fodder prices are already elevated due to the drought conditions further south.
Up to 300mm of rain fell in just a few days, inundating the hardest-hit communities of Taree, Kempsey, Dungog, Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour.
In Barrington Tops, the mountains copped more than 533mm in one week. Upper Hunter Shire Mayor Maurice Collison said it was the worst downpour he’d seen in more than 70 years.
Many properties suffered significant damage and farmers have lost livestock swept away by floodwater.
Others are working to help get some of them back, taking to community Facebook pages to track down owners for cattle that have washed up on their properties. There were even reports of livestock ending up on beaches.
NSW Farmers vice-president Rebecca Reardon said this was “another flood we didn’t need” and it was clear the impact on farm communities would be significant.
“Fences and farm infrastructure have already been damaged again, roads are cut or ruined, and paddocks and crops have now been waterlogged for months on end,” Mrs Reardon said.
“Farmers have been putting up an incredible front, but we’re also now heading into cold conditions that will put a choke-hold on any pasture growth — so it could be a challenging winter ahead with little fodder available.
“We don’t know the full extent of the damage just yet, but we know it’ll take a serious recovery effort to get everyone back on track as farmers absorb some significant production losses and challenges in their businesses.”
– with AAP.
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