The Burrumbuttock Hay Runners are turning their attention to Victoria’s struggling dairy farmers.
Organiser Brendan Farrell said it was un-Australian that dairy farmers were expected to wake up each morning just to lose $800 an hour when they go to work to milk their cows.
“We’ll probably end up doing down to Warrnambool, Geelong way for the dairy industry because they can’t afford hay, they can’t afford food.
“We’ve got plenty of hamper packs and plenty of hay coming on board so we’ll fire the trucks down there.”
Mr Farrell expected the dairy support run would be held in either January or February – when he finished his harvest and trucks become available after summer grain deliveries.
He announced his latest plan at the Henty Machinery Field Days on Thursday.
It is the latest twist in what Mr Farrell describes as the Hay Runners’ tsunami.
“We’ll have a crack down at Warrnambool or somewhere down there and give those dairy farmers a bit of a plug,” he said.
“We’ll see how it goes after that. But we’ll go back up north.
“Whether it’s Bourke or Illfracombe or where ever.
“The vision I want for the next five years is we’ll look after fire or flood or drought, it doesn’t matter.
We’ll look after fire or flood or drought, it doesn’t matter.
- Brendan Farrell
“The Australian people are raising money for us, considering we’re not a registered charity, so you’ve got to show ’em where the money is going all the time.”
He also used the three-day Field Days in southern NSW to unveil another program, to help drought-hit Queensland cattle graziers to rebuild their herds.
“We’re going to buy bulls and donate them to farmers back up in the Longreach area who destocked but still have a few heifers left,” Mr Farrell said.
“So they can at least get their feet back on the ground and start that process again because they just don’t have the money to buy a bull.”