Help a farming family in desperate need this Xmas
Donation protected
My good friend at work, Kerrie Burton told our staff the heart breaking story about her parents farm. They have reached Day Zero and desperately need our help. Kerrie's dad is a proud man and is very reluctant to ask for help. My attitude is that he isn't asking - we are offering! The most practical way we can assist is to raise money so that food and water (I was astounded at the high cost for these basic necessities) can be purchased for the cattle as well as much needed property maintenance so that the farm doesn't have to be sold. The photo above shows just one of their many dry dams. It was dry for eight months and was closed off to prevent more animals being trapped in the silt mud. This was the only water source for a 2000 acre area.
I asked Kerrie to give me some background information to help tell their story:
"Dad has owned our family property for more than 50 years, buying it when he was about 16 years old with his brother and father, who have since passed away.
For many years dad worked the sawmill, logging timber and running a smaller herd of beef cattle. In the last 15 years, my brother and dad have thrown themselves into cattle, moving away from Herefords into Brahmans with greater success. They have invested in a breeding herd, focusing on quiet females and selecting calves that hold these calm traits.
In December of 2016, a dry lightning strike burnt 4000 acres, this was followed by a dry winter resulting in no grass regrowth. Then in the harsh summer of 2017-2018, they lost about 30% of their herd. They were unprepared that summer for the shortage of winter grass growth combined with a shortage of water. They lacked piping, trough and dams. In 2018-2019 they focused on building paddocks with water troughs, extending dams, fencing to develop smaller more manageable paddocks and rebuilding their herd again.
As the summer of 2019-2020 approaches, they are now faced not only with a water shortage (which has been much better managed by their new approached this year), but with the lack of winter rain there is again no grass. Over the last few months, without rain they have developed a small method of feeding the cattle to build condition, with the plan to sell everything apart from their breeding herd. In November, the decision was made to start selling the bottom of this herd too. Now with just over 150 cows left, buying in fodder has become their soul task. Dad was lucky to source hay at the end of November, but with the low prices for cattle and the poor condition that they are in funding has now become an issue too.
With the loss of these last few key cows, dad and Clint will have nothing left to fund them to restock when the drought breaks. If you can spare dollar to help keep these last cows on the property, it will mean that when the drought breaks rebuilding won’t be impossible."
I asked Kerrie to give me some background information to help tell their story:
"Dad has owned our family property for more than 50 years, buying it when he was about 16 years old with his brother and father, who have since passed away.
For many years dad worked the sawmill, logging timber and running a smaller herd of beef cattle. In the last 15 years, my brother and dad have thrown themselves into cattle, moving away from Herefords into Brahmans with greater success. They have invested in a breeding herd, focusing on quiet females and selecting calves that hold these calm traits.
In December of 2016, a dry lightning strike burnt 4000 acres, this was followed by a dry winter resulting in no grass regrowth. Then in the harsh summer of 2017-2018, they lost about 30% of their herd. They were unprepared that summer for the shortage of winter grass growth combined with a shortage of water. They lacked piping, trough and dams. In 2018-2019 they focused on building paddocks with water troughs, extending dams, fencing to develop smaller more manageable paddocks and rebuilding their herd again.
As the summer of 2019-2020 approaches, they are now faced not only with a water shortage (which has been much better managed by their new approached this year), but with the lack of winter rain there is again no grass. Over the last few months, without rain they have developed a small method of feeding the cattle to build condition, with the plan to sell everything apart from their breeding herd. In November, the decision was made to start selling the bottom of this herd too. Now with just over 150 cows left, buying in fodder has become their soul task. Dad was lucky to source hay at the end of November, but with the low prices for cattle and the poor condition that they are in funding has now become an issue too.
With the loss of these last few key cows, dad and Clint will have nothing left to fund them to restock when the drought breaks. If you can spare dollar to help keep these last cows on the property, it will mean that when the drought breaks rebuilding won’t be impossible."
Organizer and beneficiary
Sharls Walton
Organizer
White Rock, QLD
Kerrie Burton
Beneficiary