Gippsland farmers pitch in for breast cancer fundraiser

In the last eight months, 18 farmers across South Gippsland have fattened 24 mixed-sex calves and, in just under a week, the entire draft is set to go under the hammer at Leongatha's fortnightly store sale.

Third-generation Leongatha South dairy farmer Amy White, who is charged with leading the fundraising campaign, said the group aimed to raise upwards of $25,000 through the sale of cattle for the McGrath Foundation.

"Breast cancer is a huge issue in our community and there's not many people you could find who didn't know someone who had been affected by the terrible illness," Mrs White said.

The draft of Angus, Black Baldy and Hereford calves were bought in April 2020 and averaged $770 a head at 250 kilograms.

"We thought that was expensive back then," she said.

The funds raised from the cattle drive will go towards a pink stumps day being held by the Outtrim Moyarra Kongwak Cricket Club.

"Conservatively we hope to get $1700 to $1800 a head when we sell them on February 26," Mrs White said.

The draft was bought with the financial assistance of SEJ Livestock Leongatha who loaned the club some money to help buy the draft of calves.

"Last year we raised $22,000 through the help of Landmark and we had 22 cattle so this year we hope to aim slightly higher than that," Mrs White said.

"The result is entirely dependent on the support we've received from the community and in the last five years we've raised $85,000 for the foundation which has been quite overwhelming."

Some of the calves, according to local farmers who have agisted the cattle on their property free of charge, are weighing in excess of 500kg.

The farmers are spread out across places like Loch, Leongatha, Inverloch, Korumburra, Bena and Moyarra.

SEJ Livestock agent Paul Wilson said he expected the cattle to be in high demand at the store market.

"There will be people who will want to support the foundation and we expect the cattle to make above the current strong rates," he said.