General News
10 June, 2025
Bare paddocks and empty grain silos
A farm tour across the Wimmera on Thursday by Horsham Rural City Council elected members and Drought Response Task Force member Shane Sali visited farms to hear first hand the challenges facing farmers as the cost of hand feeding stock and the wait for the heavens to open on dry paddocks.
Sam Eagle farms sheep and cereal cropping at Laharum.
The pipeline has kept sheep alive but hand feeding has been expensive.
He'd like to see more funding to create a resilient industry as well as the grants to address the current crisis.
He spoke with Cr Sali about the challenges he and other farmers face and the hope that the season breaks and feed will once again grow in his barren paddocks.
The Rogers family at Telangatuk have two properties. The original farm is owned and managed by Peter and Julie and son Daniel has a farm nearby. He said the current and what is the second year of drought conditions is hitting them hard.
Peter has already spent half a million dollars on feed this year and sees no end to the spend because even if it rains it will take at least two years to recover enough feed to carry on.
Kyan Myer met with the tour group and gave a demonstration of the machinery he uses, but his paddock are bare and rain is the only thing that can change that. His story and so many others across the Wimmera are important to be translated to the Task Force.
Mayor Sali said after the visit, "The backbone of Victoria is a strong agriculture sector.
"However, our State’s agricultural sector is facing serious drought conditions!
"It has been a big week hearing about these challenges firsthand and the crisis unfolding across regional Victoria," he said.
"Regional Cities Victoria (RCV) Mayors came together to discuss the drought impacts on our respective cities on Monday.
"We also brought together key industry reps from Greater Shepparton to hear about the impact on local industry.
"I then spent the past two days in Horsham, one of the hardest hit regions battling relentless drought conditions.
"I met with the Mayor Ian Ross and Councillors Brian Klowss and Bec Sluggett to coordinate a valuable roundtable discussion, followed by visits on Thursday to several farms in the area to hear the raw and vulnerable stories from the ground," he said.
"These were all valuable conversations, providing me with great insight into the current challenges, the support required from the State Government, and the opportunities that exist in the agriculture sector," he said.
Mayor Sali said while the stories across the state are similar, being face to face is far more personal and with that he can take the needs to the Drought Response Task Force which met on Friday, June 6.
