Need for Feed convoy arrives

RESIDENTS from across the Corangamite Shire lined the streets of Camperdown to welcome a crucial delivery over the weekend.

Applause broke out as a convoy of trucks delivering much-needed hay cleared the crest on the entrance to Camperdown.

Need for Feed delivered close to $500,000 worth of hay into Camperdown on Saturday to provide assistance for farmers during ongoing drought conditions.

A total of 33 trucks arrived at the old Camperdown Saleyards, with Need for Feed founder Graham Cockerell saying the welcome was “terrific”.

“It’s a show of support from us to their community and a show of support back from them that they really loved what we’re doing,” he said.

“It was pretty emotional.

“There were hundreds of people in Camperdown, but even as far back as Winchelsea there were small groups out.

“In Colac, there were a fair few more, bit in Camperdown there were heaps.

“It’s a great show of support from our volunteers to let the community know we stand with them.”

The hay was delivered to farms across the Corangamite, Moyne and Colac-Otway shires, reaching dairy, sheep and beef farmers of all sizes.

While the hay brought welcomed relief to the district, Mr Cockerell said the government needed to do more to support farmers in securing hay.

“We have been refused government funding – we have been told there’s none available,” he said.

“We are still waiting for a meeting with the Agriculture Minister – we’ve been trying for six weeks.

“It would be handy if the road train network got opened up properly instead of half the state – all of our hay has come in via the Newell Highway onto the Goulburn Valley Highway or the Hume Highway onto the Murray Valley Highway.

“What the government and VicRoads has done is fairly useless as far as we’re concerned because you can come from South Australia with hay – there’s no hay in South Australia – you can come from Mildura or Echuca as long as you wind your way through Ballarat.

“I don’t believe those roads are particularly suitable for road trains – you go in and out of towns where you could come straight down the freeway from Sydney.

“What the government’s done there is not even a good band-aid solution.”

Despite the challenges, Mr Cockerell said he hoped to do more to assist drought-affected communities and encouraged residents to put their hands up to help out.

“If people would like to support us, they can visit www.needforfeed.org – they can donate money on there, they can donate fodder if there’s anything hiding in sheds, people can volunteer to join the hay run, and they can apply to fundraise,” he said.