Victorian farmers are 'returning the favour' in sending feed to their Tasmanian neighbours, who are struggling with one of their driest seasons in decades.
The Lions Club Need for Feed organisation, Beaconsfield Upper, is sourcing hay from Victorian farms to ship across the Bass Strait to Tasmania.
Initially, it will go to King Island, Tas, which is suffering its worst drought in 145 years.
Need for Feed has already sent five containers of stockfeed as well as a truckload of small bales to the island.
On its Facebook page, Need for Feed said the supplies were paying back kindness shown to Victorian primary producers, four years ago
"The farmers on King Island through the community's Lions Club, sent 700 bales of hay and silage to us over here on the mainland, where they were loaded onto our trucks for the Black Summer fires in Victoria and NSW," Need for Feed said.
"The least we could do is to return the favour to help them now in their time of need."
Lions Tasmania has picked up the freight bill for the fodder and feed to King Island.
Need for Feed founder Graham Cockerell said it was eventually hoped to send 500 tonnes of fodder and 200 tonnes of pellets to King Island, sourced from a Swan Hill supplier.
He said Need for Feed was also considering supplying Tasmanian farmers, with requests already coming in from the north-west.
"We will see how things pan out," he said.
"We have a budget for King Island, which we will probably exceed, particularly because of freight costs," he said.
He said there were biosecurity checks that had to be carried out, before hay could be exported to Tasmania.
"We haven't been able to buy enough hay in Tassie, there has been almost none donated and none to buy, because Tassie itself is so dry."
"Money will be what pulls us up, with biosecurity each batch has to be tested, so we are looking at one supplier."
He hoped the hay could be transported from Apollo Bay, which would significantly cut transport costs.
"The boat would do two trips in the time it would take to do one - it's about 150 kilometres from Apollo Bay to King Island, whereas Port Welshpool is at least 300km," he said.
The source of the hay, Swan Hill, was at least 150km closer to Apollo Bay than Port Welshpool, he said, further cutting freight costs.
TasFarmers president Ian Sauer said the organisation was also was working to enhance and relaunch its Tasmanian Fodder Hub.
The revamped website would feature a central register to assist farmers to get access to fodder, aiming for a seamless connection between participants, he said.
TasFarmers would be seeking donations of fodder and transportation to affected farmers.
"About three weeks ago, we had 30 millimetres of rain, but that is really evaporated off now - thank goodness the days are getting a bit cooler now, so the ground is still green," he said.
"But there is really no growth, for mainland Tasmanian fodder is very, very difficult to get hold of and on King Island it is becoming very, very desperate."
He said he hoped Need for Feed would be able to ship from Apollo Bay to King Island, despite Bass Strait Freight, Bridport, being barred from running livestock crates through the port.
"When we are talking about drought, its not a normal day at work," he said
"These are extraordinary times and I think government business enterprises, the private sector and local government have just got to cut us some slack, so that we can get some things going in these difficult times," he said.
Statewide drought co-ordinator Jac Shipton had been joined by two workers on King Island.
"They will help co-ordinate fodder through the hub, as well - but gee whizz, there is not a lot of fodder left in Tasmania, at the moment," he said.
"Because Tasmania had such a bad spring, we are hoping to get this fodder transport from the mainland, as a start."
Mr Sauer said "when you have 500 tonnes of hay and 200 tonnes of pellets, that's a confidence booster in itself," he said.
"The Need for Feed are just absolute angels, we hope we can get into Apollo Bay.
"Everyone is putting their shoulder to the wheel and let's just hope it works."
Andrew Miller
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
