Rural aid raises miles of smiles

Posted on 28 March 201931 October 2023

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YOU may be doing it tough, but you are not doing it alone.

That’s the message spread by more than 35 Rural Aid volunteers as they teamed up with Honda to give Kyabram a much-needed facelift during the past week.

Coming from around Australia the small army painted, gutted, cleaned and pruned their way into the hearts of those they helped.

By Friday of last week the Town Hall had been repainted and transformed, the showgrounds had a new kitchen and the croquet club was looking much younger than its almost 100-year age bracket suggests.

Shadow Business Secretary on Honda closure

Shadow Business Secretary comments on Honda’s closure.

Two local farmers were also helped out around their properties and with a delivery of feed.

At the Fauna Park overgrown tree branches were cut down and fences put up.

Not even the cemetery escaped the kindness of the Rural Aid army, receiving some TLC and much appreciated maintenance.

From fruit crates to coffee tables

DIY expert Hang-Shuen Lee shows us how to make a rustic but stylish coffee table from four fruit crates.

And Rural Aid couldn’t have come at a better time with local farmers struggling against the protracted dry and soaring temporary water prices.

Showgrounds committee secretary Janelle McDonald said it was the “best thing that had happened to Kyabram in a long time’’.

“They’ve had me in tears a few times this week, to be honest. They’ve just gone above and beyond, nothing was too hard for them. It’s such a morale boost, all I can say is – just wow,” she said.

Croquet club treasurer Sue Agosta agreed.

“It’s just an absolutely huge boost to the club. We are turning 100 in a few years and this has just given the building such a facelift,” she said.

Volunteer Damien Harvey from Newcastle worked on the club revamp and said he wanted people in regional communities to feel the support of those living in metro areas.

“I want them to know some people in the cities really do care and that we will do what we can to support them,” he said.

It was a message echoed throughout the volunteer group.

“How many jobs are totally dependent on the weather? Not many. But our farmers are totally at the mercy of the season,” volunteer Marg Hancocks said.

“If the farmers suffer, the communities suffer, and we’re here to help in any way we can.”

Town Hall committee secretary Anne Churches said the painting of the hall would have a lasting and significant impact.

“It’s wonderful. We were particularly interested in presenting the hall in it’s best light for the Victorian CWA meeting here in August, and now we can be really proud of what we offer. The new coat of white paint is a great thing for our exhibitions too,” she said.

Long-term Rural Aid volunteers Neil and Allison Elliot, who helped get the hall up to scratch and said it was important for Australians to recognise the significance of agricultural communities.

“We like to say that you need a farmer three times a day – breakfast, lunch and dinner. Without farmers we have no food. Helping our farming communities is the right thing to do, and we believe in paying it forward,” they said.

Rosey Bartlett from Old Bar and her husband Lee quit their jobs last year in order to work on Rural Aid projects full time.

She described the week spent getting to know the Kyabram community as one of hope.

“Kyabram has absolutely been so inspiring. This whole community is so warm and full of hope, it’s been really amazing,” she said.

The Rural Aid team also joined the Gift Of Music program to donate two classroom sets of instruments to Kyabram P-12 College.

Then organised a performance from the Australian Army band, which entertained at schools across the immediate region and put on a free community concert.

Kyabram P-12 College Performing Arts teacher Sue Meeking said she was overwhelmed by their support and described the band performance as a “big party’’.

“We are so thrilled to have their support. It gives us the chance to introduce every child to music. We’ve already started running classes with the instruments – the students just love them,” she said.

Fauna Park manager Lachlan Gordon said the work volunteers did during the week was incredibly valuable and called on locals to help continue the improvements.

“Volunteers have always been an important part of the Fauna Park. We’ll be opening up our volunteer program again soon and seeking more local people to sign on,” he added.

Source: Kyabram Free Press

‘Buy a Cow’ Delivers first cattle to flood ravaged farmers

Posted on 18 March 201931 October 2023

Australians helping to rebuild the cattle herd in north-west Queensland

Thanks to the generosity of ordinary Australians, rural charity Rural Aid has delivered the first load of cattle to a farming family north of Winton in North West Queensland as part of its innovative Buy A Cow campaign. 

Thirty-nine young brahman cows were trucked to the property of inaugural beneficiaries Jeff and Debbie Nichols, in what is a concerted effort to rebuild the Northern Queensland cattle herd after a catastrophic weather event in late January/February decimated cattle numbers.

After enduring eight years of drought, hundreds of thousands of cattle were lost in 10 days of monsoonal rain. Herds across rural Queensland – including that of the Nichols family – were totally devastated.

Similar to the successful Buy a Bale campaign, this initiative allows Australians to donate money which will be gifted to farmers to purchase new livestock. Each farmer that registers will receive $15,000. The charities aim is to raise a total of $7.5 million dollars which will benefit approximately 500 farmers. $250,000 has been raised in the first two weeks.

In the coming weeks Rural Aid will be making cattle deliveries in Winton, Cloncurry and the Julia Creek regions. Jeff Nichols said the injection of new livestock was a much-needed boost to the family’s farm operations, “Like
many cattle producers up this way we have been doing it tough for a long time. We are so grateful to receive this support, but there are still so many families on the land who feel like they have nobody to lean on.

“If you care about the quality and ongoing sustainability of the Australian beef industry, I encourage you to give generously so that other producers can receive the assistance they so desperately need to get back on their
feet.”

Rural Aid Chief Executive Officer Charles Alder said it is important that all Australians dig deep to support these cattle producers who are struggling financially and emotionally to recover, “The thought of having to deal with
one natural disaster after another is difficult to contemplate but that’s what these farmers are going through,” Mr Alder said.

“Many of these farmers are staring at the prospect of not having an income for two years. One hundred per cent of funds raised through Rural Aid’s Buy a Cow campaign will be allocated to purchasing new cattle. This is in addition to other grants Rural Aid is making towards bill payments, groceries and fodder assistance – we’re calling on Australia to continue their support to help farmers rebuild their livelihoods.”

To learn more about the Buy A Cow campaign or to donate to the cause visit their website: www.buyacow.com.au

New Drought Assistance Registrations Highest in Five Months

Posted on 5 March 201931 October 2023

RURAL AID SPENDS $20M SINCE SEPTEMBER 2018

5 March 2019

The number of farmers registering for drought assistance has hit the highest level in the past five months, according to Australia’s leading rural charity Rural Aid.

The spike in registrations saw a total of 638 new farmers register for assistance in February, with the majority needing fodder to feed their livestock.

This brings the total new farmer registrations for 2019 – just two months – to 1,100.

In the past six months, Rural Aid has distributed 48,000 bales of hay to more than 2,500 farmers and has disbursed more than $20 million for fodder, mental health counselling and financial assistance.

Rural Aid CEO Charles Alder said the number of new registrations in February 2019 was a clear indication that the drought continued to take its toll.

“The number of new farmers needing fodder is a signal to all involved in supporting the agricultural sector that we cannot afford to be complacent,” Mr Alder said.

“I, like many other Australians, are particularly concerned that if we don’t get the Autumn break we need this month that there will even more pressure in an already precarious situation.

“From our perspective, our ability to source hay for farmers will reduce markedly if the rains don’t eventuate.”

STATE BY STATE JAN TO FEB 2019:
Queensland saw the highest increase in percentage terms with 176 farmers registering in February compared to 75 in January. (961 have registered in the past six months)

NSW continues to have the highest numbers of any state with 357 new registrations in February compared to 305 in January. (4,845 have registered in the past six months)

Victoria had 70 new registrations in February, up from 41 in January. (236 have registered in the past six months)

SA grew from 32 new registration in January to 35 in February. (208 have registered in the past six months)

For more information on Rural Aid’s upcoming projects including the new Buy A Cow initiative to support flood affected farmers in North West Queensland visit www.buyacow.com.au

Flood-hit farmers now hoping for more rain as recovery continues

Posted on 4 March 201931 October 2023

Queensland farmers devastated after massive flooding hit northern parts of the state last month now find themselves in the bizarre position of wishing for more rain.

Much of the flooded areas were drought declared before the floods, and despite the deluge went right back to that state after the water receded.

Heidi Smith lives with her husband and four children on Iffley Station, a cattle station between Normanton and Julia Creek.

She said there had been a significant impact on the landscape from the flooding.Advertisement

“There’s a lot of erosion and a lot of sand. Once (the water) has been up for two or three days it actually starts to move a lot of sand around,” Ms Smith said.

“It’s literally like a beach. It’s thick, a couple of feet. We’ve got to move it, and then vehicles get bogged in it.”

Ms Smith said as a result of the erosion, a lot of the topsoil had been stripped from paddocks, meaning native grasses would take a long time to regrow.

That means despite recently getting too much water, the Smiths – along with most of their neighbours – will be spending the next few weeks hoping for rain.

“We will have a very tough season if we don’t get a couple more inches to wash everything off,” she said.

“Because feed in our experience after a flood, it doesn’t really come back. It tends to just lie there and it needs the extra rain to bring it back in.”

“Ideally we’d love some more rain. We’ve had some fodder drops but it won’t last all year so we need some rain now.”

Iffley Station was more fortunate than many of its neighbours thanks to large elevated sections where the bulk of its 30,000 cattle survived the event.

Many surrounding properties and others across the region were not so lucky, with half-a-million cattle believed to have died in the disaster from drowning, freezing or starvation.

Some properties lost almost their entire herds, which means simple drops of hay aren’t enough to help them.

Regional assistance group Rural Aid launched the Buy a Cow campaign, urging people to donate specifically towards restocking cattle stations.

Rural Aid chief executive Charles Alder said they had previously been running a “Buy a Bale” campaign to fund hay drops but that was no longer enough.

“We’ve got a target of $7.5 million,” Mr Alder said.

“It’s also the flow-on effect to the local communities. Every one of these farmers spend money in town. The trucking companies truck cattle in and out. The local servos sell diesel. The shops sell groceries and these farmers have no cash flow.”

Rural Aid has a list of registered affected farmers and every time $15,000 builds up it is donated to the next farmer on the list to help them with the coast of restocking.

It comes on top of state and federal disaster assistance payments, as well as a new agency set up by the federal government on Friday to help manage the response to the disaster.

The North Queensland Livestock Recovery Agency will develop medium- and long-term plans to rebuild the sector and help to manage restocking efforts.

Farmers will be able to access up to $2 billion in low-cost loans, as well as access further seed money to rebuild their herds.

Heidi Smith said she was grateful of any help they could get.

“We have these extremes (of weather) that we have absolutely no control over,” she said.

“Sometimes I think people in the city must think we’re so ungrateful, calling for rain after we’ve just had so much, but that’s what we need right now.”

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

Buy A Cow for flood ravaged Qld graziers

Posted on 27 February 201931 October 2023

The floods that swept across the northwest of Queensland wiped out an estimated half-a-million head of cattle.

It was a body blow for graziers who had spent the last seven years trying to keep their stock alive through the crippling drought.

The Rural Aid charity has been helping producers through the drought with its Buy-a-Bale program, now the charity’s CEO Charles Alder is urging people to help Buy-a-Cow.

Source: 4bc.com.au