Western Australia's farmers say the big dry is having a devastating effect on livestock from Carnarvon right down to the south coast. With many now running out of feed for their animals following eight months of record low rainfall ... farmers are appealing to the government to assist with the soaring cost of hay. Agriculture Minister Jacquie Jarvis has formed a taskforce to look at what can be done to avert the animal welfare crisis.
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00:00Every morning, Ken burks a welcome sight for his Angus cows.
00:08Very hungry. They don't leave anything.
00:11They get a bale of silage and a bale of hay, and there's just nothing left every day.
00:16Since spring, he's had virtually no rain.
00:19There's just no green feed at all.
00:21He's got enough fodder to see him through, but many livestock farmers,
00:25from the Gascoyne to the South West, have run low.
00:29The areas in darkest red show the lowest rainfall on record since August last year,
00:34until the end of March this year.
00:37The cost of hay has skyrocketed.
00:40Just the freight alone from the Wheatbelt to the South Coast.
00:44Per tonne for Lake Grace, you're probably looking around about $140 a tonne.
00:50The square bales now, to land in Denmark, you're looking at $500 a tonne.
00:54Just the normal beef farmer, he can't afford that.
00:58There's no way in the world that'll just break him.
01:01Either that or he's got to sell all his stock.
01:03Everything in here's got to go.
01:05Farmers are making heart-breaking decisions.
01:08What they can't feed is being sold off, and prices are at rock bottom.
01:14We're in a situation there is nowhere to go.
01:17There's some orders coming out of the east that's certainly helping,
01:22but, yeah, it's a proper tricky situation at the moment.
01:26If they can't sell animals, then they do have to sometimes make tough decisions,
01:30and that does include sometimes euthanasia in animals.
01:33And I know this causes mental health concerns for farming families across the state.
01:38The Minister has asked a taskforce to urgently provide her with advice
01:43as to how to help farmers through the crisis.
01:47But at this stage, there's no timeline nor deadline
01:51as to when the taskforce will deliver its findings.
01:54Yeah, if they can subsidise transport to get it to some of these farmers
01:57that are really struggling, that would be a fantastic option.
01:59Southwest Cattle Farmers will hold a crisis meeting in Yornup on Wednesday.