MATES helping a mate needing a hand had Busselton’s farming, football and business communities working together in a demonstration of community spirit last weekend.
About 50 volunteers, many donating equipment as well as time, gave up their Sunday to help Acton Park dairy farmer Brett Milner, 45, rake, bale, cart, wrap and stack 930 round silage bales of summer feed for his cattle.
Some of the volunteers also gave up the previous Friday to mow 60 hectares of pasture for the silage.
A stalwart of the Busselton Magpies Football Club and its junior football coach, Mr Milner had been rocked by a diagnosis of prostate cancer requiring major surgery around Christmas, and the prospect of not being able to work around the family farm for three months afterwards.
He was trying to set up the farm so it could be run with a minimum of effort while he was recuperating – running a 180 cow dairy herd on the home block and another 420 beef cattle and dairy herd replacement cows, along with their summer feed, on blocks six kilometres away.
Surgery was timed for the school holidays so wife Joanne would have their sons and his father to help her.
The biggest job facing Mr Milner was mowing, raking and baling the silage and carting it back to the home property for wrapping and stacking – a job he estimated would take him six weeks to complete on his own.
That was until fellow dairy farmer Ian McGregor heard about his plight and decided to help.
“Brett’s done a lot for the local community through his involvement with junior football – he coaches one of our sons,” Mr McGregor said on Monday.
“He’s involved with the local (Acton) hall committee – things like that die unless people like Brett take an interest in them,” Mr McGregor said.
“I just thought I’d take my crew and give him a hand for a day and then I thought we’ll need a bit of help so I contacted his brother-in-law (Justin Bell) and it just snowballed from there.
“We had 20 machines operating by the time you count three rakes and three balers, five trucks, all the telehandlers and loaders and the wrapper – I don’t think the guys on the wrapper stopped all day.
“All the local farmers brought their equipment and the local footy club lads helped with loading, stacking and wrapping.
“We mowed the silage on Friday and started about 7.30am on Sunday to rake and bale it.
“We were all done by about 5.30pm, it was a spot-on day for it.
“While it certainly helped Brett, I think those sort of days are good for the community too, it helps keep a community spirit alive.”
Mr Milner said he was “a bit overwhelmed” by the community’s support.
“We had a real cross-section of the Busselton community here, there were neighbours, parents of kids I coach, other farmers, local business people I deal with – Nicholls Machinery in Busselton sent out a demo bailer and a big Kubota tractor to drive it,” Mr Milner said.
“I’m very grateful to everyone, particularly Ian McGregor who organised it and my brother-in-law Justin who was like a foreman on the day, they did a great job.
“I had to duck off in the afternoon to go and see my specialist who was down in Dunsborough for the weekend, so they did some of it without me.”