Tasmania's peak agricultural lobby group is relaunching its Fodder Hub, as the first fodder and pellets arrive on King Island, from Victoria.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Lions Club Need for Feed organisation, Beaconsfield Upper, has sent its first semi-trailer load of fodder to King Island.
The island is suffering one of its driest periods in nearly 145 years and Need for Feed has sent fodder, as well as five containers of stockfeed and small bales.
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.
TasFarmers president Ian Sauer said Need for Feed said it would be providing 500 tonnes of fodder and 200 tonnes of pellets.
At the same time, TasFarmers 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.
"If you can go from places like Port Welshpool, you are 12 hours away, but if you can go from Apollo Bay, you are six hours away - it's just not rocket science," Mr Sauer said.
The additional distance, required to transport fodder, added to the cost, "which just went through the roof," he said.
"When we are talking about drought, its not a normal day at work, these are extraordinary times and I think government business enterprises, the private sector and local government have just got to cut some slack, so that we can get some stuff 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 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.
