'Dire' situation as pastoralists need feed

Over the past 10 weeks, 880 bales of hay have been distributed to 14 stations across the Mid West, all of which were donated by farmers in the South Coastal region, and the fuel costs were covered by the organisation's fundraising efforts.

One of the biggest challenges the not-for-profit group has is the fuel costs associated with transporting the donated feed.

Farmers Across Borders chairwoman, Sam Starcevich, said it could cost a road train between $3500-$8000 to fuel up.

The drivers volunteer their time, trucks, and trailers, with all money donated now going towards fuel, as well as baling costs.

Ms Starcevich said her phone had been ringing off the hook, taking calls from farmers in need.

"Farmers have shared with us that they are desperate to keep their breeders alive," Ms Starcevich said.

"Pastoralists have been telling me that they received as little as 20-50 millimetres of rainfall in 2023 - that's not even enough for a cup of tea."

Another hay run is being planned, but with cyclonic conditions and extreme heat waves, the next two trips have been delayed until late next week or even the following week.

Most of the trucks will leave from the Esperance region where the straw bales were donated, and will make their way through to Carnarvon and beyond.

The volunteers are expected to deliver feed to another 15 stations.

Without any hay currently available, Farmers Across Borders is donating bales of barley and canola straw, as well as about 20 tonnes of pellet Bulka bags donated by Gilmac Hay.

"We've got plenty of feed but we're just stressing it isn't hay, it's straw," Ms Starcevich said.

"We're going to take the canola straw, we're not sure if the cattle are going to eat it but it's been donated so we'll take it and see how it will go.

"Quite a few farmers are feeding poddy calves."

Ms Starcevich said since last week more than $12,000 had been donated by everyday Australians to support the cause, but it was time for big corporations to open their purse.

"We are now urging big businesses to dip deep and support WA's struggling regions," she said.

"They can come on as a corporate sponsor or can donate some much-needed funds."

Ms Starcevich said the situation in the north was getting dire, with one pastoralist spending more than $300,000 on supplementary feed this year.

She said some pastoralists had described this month as being worse than when Farmers Across Borders delivered hay in 2019, and that the recent heat was unbearable.

"I was talking to one (pastoralist) the other day and he said there were just birds dropping out of the sky, dead budgies everywhere," Ms Starcevich said.

"And the markets are putting added pressure on farmers because they can't access their markets or their markets have closed and they're just not getting anything for their livestock.

"They're holding onto animals that should have been on ships.

"It baffles us that these regions should technically be declared as being in drought, but for whatever reason the State government has never been keen to make that call."

Ms Starcevich is concerned about the mental health and wellbeing of pastoralists.

The core of Farmers Across Borders is to support neighbouring farmers and pastoralists, through livestock feed, care packages or simply having a chat, the program is not supported by government.

Ms Starcevich said the only time Farmers Across Borders received funding was a few years ago and there has been nothing since.

"It's extremely frustrating," she said.

"We've asked for a travel subsidy like they do over east.

"We've also been saying to pastoralists that they need to help us out with this because we can't wear that and we don't expect our volunteers to wear that," she said.

It's unclear how long the stations will need support for, but Farmers Across Borders is in it for the long haul.

"Every dollar counts, and we are certain that the Aussie spirit of helping out your neighbour remains strong," Ms Starcevich said.