![Cows being swept away in the flood on Paul Weir's farm in 2022. Picture supplied Cows being swept away in the flood on Paul Weir's farm in 2022. Picture supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/187038826/85a9c2c6-269e-4e37-bb16-15ca7863bb8e.jpg/r113_0_2886_1560_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
ONE faced flood, the other fire.
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One dairy farm in the lush subtropical north coast of NSW, the other in a spectacular valley in Victoria's north-east high country.
Both faced the heartbreak of losing precious animals and large swathes of farmland in a natural disaster.
But both rebuilt their farm businesses to be stronger and better than ever.
And both delivered hard-hitting messages to this year's Australian Dairy Conference about the importance of looking after yourself, your mental health and accepting a helping hand when faced with recovering from the unthinkable.
Paul Weir spoke in the opening session of the conference about the devastating floods that hit his Lismore, NSW, property in 2022.
Evan Nicholas spoke in the closing session about the Black Summer fires that tore through his Biggara Valley dairy farm in 2019-20.
The worst flood in living memory
Mr Weir told the conference floods were something they dealt with regularly.
Since 1870, 160 floods have been recorded at Lismore. But the 2022 flood was like nothing before it.
The evening before the flood, the Weirs expecting the flood to be lower than the previous peak, headed to bed confident their flood plan had been executed.
At 3.20am that changed when they realised water had entered their dairy - something that had never happened before.
For Mr Weir and his family the next 24 hours were bedlam as they scrambled to save what they could and get themselves and their families, friends and neighbours to safety.
Mr Weir faced a particularly harrowing experience as he attempted to get back from the flooded dairy to his house.
"The water was noticeably deeper and a stronger current," he said.
"It was pushing me away from the house.
"I soon realised it was worse than I thought. Every step I was going metres. It was like a really extreme rip at the beach."
Back safely on the top storey of his house, he watched and videoed with horror as some of his cows were washed away before him.
"It still hurts to watch it today," he said.
"For me, it was the emotion of absolute fail.
"Those cows - you all understand the attachment to our cows - relied on me to keep them safe."
The next day as the flood waters retreated, the true extent of the damage became evident.
Mr Weir estimates their farm and fertiliser businesses suffered almost $5 million in losses.
"I didn't know where really to start with the extent of the damage was just so overwhelming," he said.
"A marathon starts with one step. I just started."
![Paul Weir at the Australian Dairy Conference in February. Picture by Carlene Dowie Paul Weir at the Australian Dairy Conference in February. Picture by Carlene Dowie](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/187038826/33c327ee-b8ab-41fa-aba0-d77f2f7b70b3.JPG/r0_0_3552_3346_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The offers for help started arriving - a neighbouring farmer offered to take the remaining cows to be milked at his place.
"From every state and dairy region in the country from North Queensland to Tasmania to WA, we had calls of support," Mr Weir said.
"And one point, I counted 85 calls in a day. From industry leaders to complete strangers. It was just humbling."
One phone call he made stood out for him in revealing the true toll of a disaster such as this.
He rang a fencing contractor who lived in town to see if he could do some work for him.
"At that stage I didn't know how he fared in the flood," he said.
"He has seven kids. He lives in a house that had never had water in it and so he was caught completely unprepared."
The woke with water in their beds.
He and his wife lifted the children onto furniture and contemplated how to get them all out on a surf ski.
"The phone just went silent," Mr Weir said.
"With a quivering voice he continued: 'we knew that if the board tipped over that we would lose our kids'.
"He said 'God answered these prayers as they were at the front door with the kids on the surf ski.
A stranger in a boat yells 'mate Do you need a hand?'
"This guy is normally a strong burly bloke. But he was broken.
"It was this conversation when I realised extent of the mental health issues my community and friends were facing."
Mr Weir said the big lesson he had learned was the importance of reaching out to people when something disastrous happened.
"Everybody has a story," he said.
"Could be a fire. Could be a drought. Could be a flood. Could be abuse, loss of a loved one, or a marriage breakup.
"What makes us all different is how we respond to these events."
He said the 2023 National Farmer Wellbeing Survey revealed 51 per cent of farmers surveyed saw mental health problems in their community, 64pc experience anxiety and 45pc had bouts of depression.
"Okay, we all farm with Mother Nature, so you understand this," he said.
"But this - 45pc of us have had thoughts of self-harm or suicide and 30pc have actually attempted.
"These are disturbing figures. These are our friends, our colleagues, our neighbours."
Mr Weir laid down a challenge to the audience.
"In these figures and after my experience with the flood and seeing my friends and community really struggling, can I ask that we all here today take on a challenge," he said
"I'd love you to reach out to others that you see struggling or going through some tough situations.
"It's just as easy as a phone call. How you going? Are you okay?
"I had people ringing me to ask that question and at the time I was thinking 'you're wasting your time, I'm OK'.
But looking back, I'm just so grateful."
![Cows on Evan Nicholas' north-east Victorian farm graze as bushfire darkens the skies during the Black Summer bush fires in 2020. Picture supplied Cows on Evan Nicholas' north-east Victorian farm graze as bushfire darkens the skies during the Black Summer bush fires in 2020. Picture supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/187038826/1d3d0423-5860-4b54-b1cc-66eba8bdabf0.jpg/r0_0_3000_2689_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Recovering after fire rips through farm
For Evan Nicholas, the Black Summer fires were something many in his community never thought would happen - and it was a time they would never forget.
And like Mr Weir, just when they thought they had things under control, Mother Nature had different plans.
A wind change didn't happen like it was supposed to and the fire flank became the front, threatening their houses, dairies, silage stacks, hay sheds, milking herd and farm land.
They saved the houses and the dairy, and the cows were safe on a green chicory paddock, but they lost everything else, including more than 1000 tonnes of stored feed.
The biggest loss was on an outblock, 40 kilometres away from the home farm.
Initially Mr Nicholas thought 114 in-calf heifers at that block had been saved.
"On the Monday, which is two days after the fire, was my worst day personally," he said.
He planned to travel to the outblock but was stopped by a phone call by a good friend and fellow dairy farmer.
"Turn around and go home, you love your cows too much," he said.
"You don't need to come down here and see what's happened.
"I listened to his words and sat on the side of the road briefly and had a little small cry and then returned home."
Mr Nicholas said he was grateful to be a dairy farmer when faced with the task of recovery.
"We didn't have time to worry about what happened, as we were too busy and focusing on what needed to happen next," he said.
"We had to milk our cows and we had an excavator there by six the next morning to dig the tops of the burning silage pits off."
Mr Nicholas said they had three weeks of not knowing what to do but they were able to milk their cows.
"And that was pretty big thing for us," he said.
"As dairy farmers we naturally love our cows - their welfare is our responsibility.
"It's not only our job, but it's our passion.
"Dairy cows need to be milked, fed and watered daily, and even if we achieve nothing else, getting all three of those things done was a great day for us."
After the fires, Mr Nicholas said they knew they had to grow grass.
"And after every fire, generally it rains," he said.
"And the other thing about a fire is it gives you clean paddocks to work into."
![Evan Nicholas at the Australian Dairy Conference in February. Picture by Carlene Dowie. Evan Nicholas at the Australian Dairy Conference in February. Picture by Carlene Dowie.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/187038826/337ea6b1-4724-4e67-b827-e3ae12bb333c.JPG/r0_0_1721_2302_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Nine days after the fire, they started drilling paddocks and once it rained, they had green feed.
"And we've had four pretty impressive seasons," Mr Nicholas.
"The weeks after the fires are some of the most enjoyable weeks that we had.
"And this might sound funny.
"Because they were tough times, but we had so many people that came to lend a hand.
"Our friends, charitable organisations, BlazeAid."
Mr Nicholas said for dairy farmers, sometimes it was hard to accept help from outside.
"But as soon as you do, as soon as you are happy to receive help, whether it's running fence wires or just having someone to talk to the better off you are.
"For us once we accepted our help, it was the best thing for a cows because we're able to focus on getting them milked."
Mr Nicholas said many dairy farmers were lucky to be able to work with their families.
"Not many families get to work together, have setbacks together and succeed together," he said.
"Being a dairy farmer is a great way to give back to the world. So, thank God I'm a dairy farmer."