General News
7 December, 2023
Farmers enjoy a rare night off
MORE than 150 of the region's dairy farmers gathered to raise in excess of $10,000 for the LET'S TALK Foundation recently.
LET'S TALK's executive officer Alex Mellert said it was great to see so many farmers come together to spend an elegant night out supporting mental health.
"The support we felt on the night for breaking the stigma surrounding mental health was overwhelming and shows how important this topic is to the farming community,” she said.
"We are incredibly thankful to the WestVic Dairy Young Dairy Network leadership team for choosing LET'S TALK as the charity for this year and everyone who attended for making this an amazing event.
"We also want to say thanks to Lely for their generous sponsorship and the businesses for donating items for the auction, without whom the night would not have been possible."
The auction part of the evening saw three generous bidders successfully walk away with a two-night stay in the Grampians, a two-night stay in Port Fairy and a prized heifer.
Then it was on to the main charity raising event of the night – the charity raffle to win a trip to the Netherlands provided by Lely.
The winner of the highly anticipated raffle draw was Terang dairy farmer Oscar Baxter.
Mr Baxter was there on the night to hear his name called.
He has recently taken on an exciting farming management opportunity and is looking forward to the trip which includes return airfares to Amsterdam, a week of accommodation and a fantastic itinerary of farm visits with behind the scenes access of Lely Headquarters.
“I’m excited about this once in a lifetime experience – going and seeing the different ways of farming, the barn style indoor cow system and the different rules and regulations,” Mr Baxter said.
“It was a great night, and it was so good to see everyone dig deep to raise such a big amount raised for a great charity.”