Aussies helping Aussie farms
DUBBO and the surrounding community has shown emphatic support in recent months for farmers who are doing it tough during the current dry spell.
On Wednesday, July 18, support organisation Aussie Helpers distributed truckloads of donated supplies to 22 local farming families, all of whom live within a twohour drive of Dubbo city.
The provisions comprised salt licks and 32 tonnes of Rumevite sheep and cattle pellets, donated by Ridley high performance animal nutrition solutions; 22 grocery hampers and 60 bags of dog food, donated by Dubbo, Bathurst and Central Coast communities; and 30,000 litres of supla base, a liquid stock feed also known as “black magic”, purchased by Aussie Helpers from monetary donations.
The Elsley family are sheep and cattle producers, and also have a growing goat herd which originally started out as a hobby for son Ethan Elsley. They are located on Lagoon Creek Road, just out of Dubbo and south of the Minore silos, and were one of the very grateful families to receive their share of these supplies.
“Aussie Helpers are doing a good job,” Ian Elsley told
“We were agisting and looking to buy a place, but then everything went south. We had a herd of cows in calf but nowhere to put them, so we had to sell them,” he said.
Mr Elsley also echoed Earlier this month Dubbo Photo News gave readers the chance to win a jar of jelly beans – all you had to do to go in the draw was guess how many jelly beans were in the jar. The winner of our jellybean guessing competition was Sheree Richards, pictured here with her grandkids Ronan and Paige Farrell as she collected her prize.
Sheree’s guess of 922 jellybeans came in the closest to being right. There were 888 jellybeans in our jar.
Thanks to Midwest Foods for donating the prize and thanks also to everyone who dropped into our office, emailed or rang up with their guess.
Well done Sheree and hopefully you will be sharing those with Ronan and Paige! growing community concerns about job losses within the local agriculture industry which he says are already happening.
Truck drivers, shearers, roustabouts, wool classers, jackaroos, jillaroos, abattoir employees and farm machinery suppliers are amongst those feeling the pinch as the long dry spell continues.
The effects of drought on non-farm businesses across NSW, and the adverse flowon effects to the whole community, have also been highlighted by the NSW Business Chamber.
“Our small businesses are already struggling with increasing cost pressures, especially fuel, gas and electricity prices, and the added impact of the drought will continue to affect business growth and employment,” Regional Manager Vicki Seccombe said recently.
“As the drought worsens, these businesses may need to make decisions regarding their ongoing viability, leading to business closures and job losses.
“Once a business closes down, particularly in smaller towns, those services generally do not return. So not only have we lost a service, but an employer, and that affects us all,” she said.
Mr Elsley believes politicians “don’t realise what is happening”.
But, he said, it’s fantastic for local farming families to know they have communities and businesses around NSW, and of course Aussie Helpers, on their side.