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
The devastating effects of the recent Queensland floods has resulted in many farmers losing their entire cattle herds but a new campaign hopes to give producers the boost needed to rebuild their livestock.
Rural Aid have launched the Buy A Cow campaign that allows every day Australians to donate money which will be given to farmers to buy a few cattle.
The charity will allocate 100 per cent of the funds raised to the purchase of new cattle.
Many Queensland farmers lost their core breeders in the floods.
It can take up to two years to generate an income and it can take years to re establish cattle blood lines.
Farmers will be given up to $15,000 each to assist in their restocking in addition to other grants Rural Aid is making towards bill payments, groceries and fodder assistance.
Rural Aid, through its Buy a Bale program, sourced and delivered almost 2500 bales of emergency hay into north-west Queensland immediately after the flood waters receded and is continuing to supply additional fodder as demand requires.
Over the last six months Rural Aid has spent over $13 million supporting farmers in drought affected areas with fodder drops, water, financial assistance and mental health counselling services.
Source: Western Magazine
On the evening of Wednesday 20th February 2019, Rural Aid was made aware that our website may have some vulnerabilities, which could result in some farmer’s information, such as names and telephone numbers, being exposed. Rural Aid takes the information security and data privacy of all our stakeholders, including farmers, sponsors and community very seriously. We also believe in the importance of being transparent with our farmers and the community.
Within 24 hours of Rural Aid becoming aware of a potential risk, we acted swiftly to investigate the matter and that initial investigation discovered no evidence that any information was accessed, downloaded or stolen.
Rural Aid is, however, taking proactive precautionary measures and has engaged independent external Cybersecurity specialists to assist in further investigating this matter. Should it transpire that any sensitive information was compromised, we will update you as soon as practicable. Rural Aid will also be undertaking an independent external review of our Information Security and Cybersecurity posture, to identify what can be done to enhance our Information Security and Cybersecurity resilience.
Should you have any concerns relating to this matter, please contact our Head of Corporate Relations Richard Forbes richard.forbes@admin.media.ruralaid.org.au
Media enquiries:
Richard Forbes – 0427270687
Charles Alder – 0410714379
CRICKET Australia has joined other major corporate partners to support Rural Aid’s Buy a Bale program and last Friday 15 February saw fourteen primary producers in the Coonamble district benefit from their fundraising efforts.
Four road-trains carrying a total of 269 bales of wheaten hay were delivered to a drop-point at Allan Inglis’ property ‘Burnbrae’ on the Tooraweenah Road.
In town to be part of the hay drop and meet with affected farmers and community members on behalf of Cricket Australia were Brisbane-based Brendan Wild, Senior Events Manager and Melbourne-based Jason Inglis (no relation) and Rural Aid counsellor Ruth Simmons.
“Our fundraising added trucks to Rural Aid’s existing run to Coonamble and one at Texas, Queensland yesterday,” Mr Wild said. “As well as providing hay, our aim was to raise awareness of what Rural Aid does with their farm rescues, counsellors, and other practical support.”
The mechanics of Cricket Australia’s fundraising centred around the recent Brisbane Test where Test patrons could purchase a ‘parma for a farmer’, donate to ride a mechanical bull, or just put their coins in a tin.
“We also had on-field interviews with farmers who came down for the cricket,” Mr Wild said. “It was similar to the Pink Test fundraising for breast cancer nurses but on a smaller scale.”
“The team all donated their playing shirts and signed an Akubra hat for auction,” he said. “Unfortunately it was such a short Test Match it cut down our fundraising.”
Both men say they have learned a lot from their trip.
While overnighting in Coonamble, the Cricket Australia representatives caught up with Junior Cricket volunteers Michael Wilson and Rodger Nalder.
They also spent several hours at ‘Burnbrae’ on Friday to meet and talk to the primary producers as they collected their allotted bales.
“What we’ve contributed is just a drop in the ocean of what is needed,” Mr Wild said.
“We’ve really enjoyed meeting everyone,” Mr Inglis said. “We are amazed at how resilient people are and how everyone just supports each other.”
The hay, which was sourced from South Australia, was unloaded and reloaded by Allan Inglis, Jason Hogland and Michael McKeown.
A sausage sizzle lunch was organised by Brian Ditchfield and Peter Cormie.
Source: Coonamble Times
COUNTRY music fans have laid their denim pockets bare at the 2019 Toyota Country Music Festival.
The event, which ran over 10 days and featured 700 artists and more than 2800 events, took place in Tamworth, NSW, with festival goers donating a total of $32,465 for Rural Aid. The charity, founded in 2015, raises money to support drought-affected farmers doing it tough across Australia.
“We spent the 10 days of the festival listening to stories of those who have been struggling through this drought,” Rural Aid CEO, Charles Alder, said. “The support that we’ve had from Toyota Australia and those attending the festival goes a long way to help out.”
Toyota Australia Chief Marketing Officer, Wayne Gabriel, was also heart-warmed by the generosity of the Akubra-wearing public.
“The drought is affecting many Australians, so it’s great to see festival-goers dig deep to help out,” he said. “We have a long history of supporting rural and regional communities in Australia, and we’re looking forward to partnering with Rural Aid again for the 2020 Toyota Country Music Festival.”
A raffle – the Raffle for Resilience – was also launched at the festival, with the top prize being a one-of-a-kind Toyota Land Cruiser 200 Sahara. That raffle won’t wrap up until early March, so to be in it to win it, grab a $10 ticket from: www.raffletix.com.au/ruralaid
If you don’t snare the top prize, there are a few decent runner-up prizes (if you’re into sport, that is): meet cricket legend Glenn McGrath, a trip for two to the 2019 AFL Grand Final, a cricket bat signed by the 2018 Australian cricket team, and a football signed by players selected in the All-Australian team.
Source: whichcar
