A simple discussion about what could be done for drought stricken farmers in NSW at a small primary school at Carisbrook has led to some 300 bales of much needed hay finding its way to one location in the NSW west.
A discussion and fund raising at the school prompted Carisbrook year six student and school co vice captain, Cooper Willis (12) to ask his dad Dave what they could do to help the farmers in need.
The Willis family are farmers at Majorca and they decided a donation of hay would be a good idea.
Fast forward a few weeks and that idea saw nearly 300 bales of hay delivered to Euabalong - 531 kilometres west of Sydney and 630km north of Carisbrook.
Cooper Willis said the idea was to put together hay from local farmers in the area that could help the drought affected regions.
They rang around local farmers and put together seven semi trailer loads of hay.
Dave Willis said the hay was mainly from the Carisbrook area including a couple of local feed mills.
He said that considering that the season locally had really tightened up, people had been really generous with their donations.
As well as the recent loads another truck load had been delivered to near Warren a few weeks ago.
Among the donors to the operation were the Maryborough Country Music Club, Driscoll Ag, Hewitt and Whitty, Mortimer Petroleum, Southern Cross Feeds, Oxley Feed Mill, Caltex, Beavertail Trailers and Vital Signs.
Local farmer, Adrian O’Connell, was instrumental in organising the hay to be ready for transport.
He asked Braidwood, NSW, based Tony Bradley, whether he knew of a farming area that was in need of hay.
Mr Bradley said he had been carting hay from O’Connell’s into NSW for four or five months and he knew the right spot for the donated feed.
The bales were loaded onto trucks at a number of locations before gathering at O’Connells for the trip north.
Mr O’Connell said the trip was uneventful and the convoy received an “incredible” reaction when it arrived at Euabalong.
“It was overwhelming really the reaction from the locals and the community there,” he said.
The hay was distributed directly to farmers in the area from a central point in the town.
He said the success of the operation had spurred them to plan another drive to the same area in coming months.
“The hay delivery is just part of it. The big thing with this was that the people around Euabalong knew that they weren’t forgotten and that people down here did know what was happening in the drought areas,” he said.
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