Caught between the floodwaters of the Thomson River and Rainbow Creek, both fed from Cowwarr Weir spill, the yearling and autumn-drop heifers on Alan and Leah Wolford’s farm didn’t stand a chance.
Of 50 missing heifers, the family has found 10 — all dead and caught with flood debris on neighbours’ farms — some of them found kilometres from the paddocks they were grazing.
“I had to get the cows up first. By the time I went back for the young cattle, they were gone,” an emotional Alan Wolford said.
Flood warnings and local knowledge estimated the flood peak to be lunchtime, so Alan got up at 4 am to check his livestock and the water levels on Rainbow Creek and the mighty Thomson River.
“I checked the river and the water was up to the dairy shed. It appears Southern Rural Water was caught unawares about the spill from the weir,” Alan said.
An estimated two metres of water had spilled from Cowwarr Weir, affecting many dairy farms in the Macalister Irrigation District. Not far away, the Latrobe River had also spread across the landscape.
“Some of the cows went through one of the washed-out fences. The normal height down to the river from the bank is 10 m, and the water was lapping the top of the bank. We got those cows back home.
“Then we went to the outblock where the yearling heifers and autumn calves were. It’s beside Rainbow Creek and the cattle were already standing in water. They wouldn’t move.
“We kept trying and were able to get some of them out. By the time we went back for the rest, they were gone.”
The 50 heifers swept away in floodwater were half their herd replacement numbers.
On Friday Alan and Leah resumed milking the herd, although they had to dump the milk for a couple of days until floodwater receded enough for the milk tanker to drive in. The phone calls began as neighbours identified the Wolford cattle among the debris on their own farms.
“On Saturday, we also found some dead heifers on our block. We’ve recovered 10 of the 50 missing heifers — all drowned,” Alan said.
“We haven’t found the remaining 40 missing heifers.”
A farm worker used the tractor to collect the dead calves and bury them in a pit on the farm.
All of their hay and most of their silage was ruined by floodwaters and Alan was anxious that people driving by the farm may report him to animal welfare authorities because his cows look hungry.
Fortunately, in late June, the local Heyfield Lions Club and Gippsland Emergency Relief Fund (GERF) donated funds to Alan and Leah to enable them to buy hay.
“I phoned around and a bloke is bringing a truckload of hay on Sunday,” Alan said.
“I should be able to get some more, but this news gives me a break for a few days from worrying about how I’m going to feed my cattle.
“A neighbour is letting the heifers and calves graze in one of his paddocks, but I’ve got to get some hay and silage up to them.”
Looking at 90 per cent of the farm emerging from the flood, Alan said he would have to re-sow a lot of paddocks. His first priority is getting an excavator to remove trees and other large debris from his fences, so repairs can begin.
“This was looking like one of our best seasons.
“We’ve just come out of the drought. We lost all our hay reserves in the 2019-20 bushfire, and we’ve lost all our hay and 100 bales of silage in the floods.”
It is community groups like Heyfield Lions Club, Lions Need for Feed, BlazeAid and GERF that were providing immediate assistance in communities across Gippsland.
Hospitals and community centres provided showering, temporary beds and phone charging facilities in the first couple of weeks, along with hot meals and food hampers. Farmers cleared roads to provide access for milk trucks.
Need for Feed deliveries of hay and silage began arriving at Yinnar on the last weekend in June, at the same time BlazeAid camps were setting up at Heyfield and Yinnar.
Of the government authorities, Southern Rural Water workers were early on the ground to assess the impact of the flood on the Wolford farm and their Macalister Irrigation District neighbours. Representatives of the milk processing companies were also out across Gippsland.
Some dairy farmers received phone calls from industry and government authorities, after mobile coverage was restored, but the institutional responses have been slow — whether in providing funding assistance or to clean up the flood debris deposited on the Wolford and other farms, and roads.
B-double milk trucks were in trouble when drivers encountered flooded roads, but no signs to warn them.
The Heyfield coordinator has prioritised the Wolford farm for BlazeAid assistance, but their volunteers’ help depends on heavy machinery removing debris.
“Leah phoned the Rural Financial Counselling Service and there’s no funding available yet,” Alan said.
“West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority hasn’t been in touch. Agriculture Victoria phoned but we haven’t heard from them since. Our water meter reader from Southern Rural Water came out to see us. Ash from United Dairyfarmers of Victoria phoned and talked to Leah on the Monday after the flood. Wellington Shire Council did a phone assessment.
“We need machinery to remove the debris, to get the rubbish off the fences and paddocks, so we can get on and work. BlazeAid will help with clean-up of wire through the paddocks.
“Our calf shed and yards need to be cleaned up and repaired, because we’ve started calving.
“We’ve got a shed near the house we can use for the first couple of weeks; but we need to have it all up and operable in four weeks (mid-July) for the main calving period.
“The bloody hard part about all this is, we have no hay reserves but the cows are not going to wait for the funding to arrive in two or three weeks’ time.
“We’re still milking 120 cows, but we’ve dried-off the spring-calvers. We had to cut 20 cows with bad mastitis out of the herd. It’ll cost a lot of time and money to treat them. We’ll have to sell them as chopper cows.”
Dairy News made some phone calls after interviewing Alan and Leah, querying the status of assistance, and was able to connect with someone who gave impetus to progressing the institutional responses and applying to government for emergency funding to clear debris in the Wellington and Latrobe districts.
A senior industry source told Dairy News: “The sheer scale of these events were more than authorities were geared to cope with.”