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| Our front paddock during the drought. Not a skerrick of grass left. The blue buckets were our home made lickblocks. The bale of straw the sheep are eating were bales of sugar cane tops and the bathtubs were filled with our sheep porridge - sugar cane, corn and carrots that were put through the hammer mill first and then topped with a runny sauce of molasses and minerals and other additives. My mate front and centre looking at the camera is Hitler with old Hornless off on his far left hand side and little Ramesis standing between them. You can just see Midnight my black lamb behind them. |
I have walked in these blokes shoes, it is heart breaking, soul destroying and bloody hard work, and when Mother Nature turns against you it is completely out of your control. A donation from as little as $5 helps so much. A morning tea function with your workmates making a gold coin donation can help out - imagine if the whole of Australia got behind that idea - wouldn' t that be wonderful.
Can your church group or social club organize a collection of toiletries and basic household commodities to be distributed? Sometimes the farm budget won't even stretch to the cost of shampoo and toothpaste . When you are hand feeding stock every $ is needed to save a life. Your breeders are the building blocks needed to rebuild herds when the drought breaks, and farmers have to try to keep them going even if they have sold off the rest .And you can guarantee they have been sold at rock bottom prices as the market is flooded with sheep and cattle from others in the same boat.
It broke my heart to see our good sheep being sold off for less than $5 a head in the last big drought. It barely covered the cost of getting them to the sale yards and then when the drought broke the price went through the roof to try and buy in breeding ewes - either way we were stuffed.
So believe me every little bit helps. Please do what you can - our farmers won't ask for help but they need it. Every lamb or calf that doesn't make it equates to standing in the paddock tearing up $50 notes. Would you do that with your hard earned money? Not bloody likely, but these farmers are powerless to stop their stock losses without access to stock feed and water and when Mother Nature turns her back on you you have to buy these in, and they aren't cheap.
Can your church group or social club organize a collection of toiletries and basic household commodities to be distributed? Sometimes the farm budget won't even stretch to the cost of shampoo and toothpaste . When you are hand feeding stock every $ is needed to save a life. Your breeders are the building blocks needed to rebuild herds when the drought breaks, and farmers have to try to keep them going even if they have sold off the rest .And you can guarantee they have been sold at rock bottom prices as the market is flooded with sheep and cattle from others in the same boat.
It broke my heart to see our good sheep being sold off for less than $5 a head in the last big drought. It barely covered the cost of getting them to the sale yards and then when the drought broke the price went through the roof to try and buy in breeding ewes - either way we were stuffed.
So believe me every little bit helps. Please do what you can - our farmers won't ask for help but they need it. Every lamb or calf that doesn't make it equates to standing in the paddock tearing up $50 notes. Would you do that with your hard earned money? Not bloody likely, but these farmers are powerless to stop their stock losses without access to stock feed and water and when Mother Nature turns her back on you you have to buy these in, and they aren't cheap.
Every bale donated saves lives.
Why not organize a coffee morning amongst your group of workmates or friends to help our farmers out and buy a bale?
Buy a Bale
The Buy a Bale Fundraising Campaign Help us to raise money for Australian farmers who need our help to live through the current drought.
The rain is slow in coming;
the grass now is all dying
The dams and creeks
and rivers are all dry.
The pigs and dogs and
foxes are adding to stock losses
There’s not a lot of
hope left in his eye.
Wool prices kep on falling but still the country calls him,
he doesn't want to leave it all behind
He believes in the future that things will get much better,
but fears sometimes he's going to lose his mind.
He believes in the future that things will get much better,
but fears sometimes he's going to lose his mind.
So won't you spare a thought for country farmers?
The ones who raise the sheep and grow the grain.
The blokes who run the cattle and the ones who grow the crops.
All are desperate for the sound of falling rain.
And think on this all of you city dwellers
who use the water, never give a damn.
We take it all for granted never give a second thought
to the Aussie battler out there on the land.
Some say farmers are whingeing, their complaints are never ending.
Some say on Government handouts they depend
But each week you draw your pay for your hard work every day.
What would you do if this all came to an end?
Our farmers are hard workers none could say they were shirkers .
Their hours aren’t fixed each day from nine to five.
They work 24/7, all the hours that God has given
just to keep their farms and families alive.
Some years no doubt are good ones and there might be a profit,
when prices rise on wool, beef, lambs or grain.
But they could lose it all tomorrow, causing much heartbreak and sorrow
though no doubt they'll face the challenge once again.
So take you hats off to the Farmers, they’re the ones who grow the produce.
The one who’s lamb and beef graces your table.
Please support them while you can, give the thumbs up to the man.
Buy Australian produce now, whilst you’re still able.
Maureen Clifford ©
The Scribbly Bark Poet
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