Drought Delivery Goes On

Hay Runners Resilience

Burrumbuttock Hay Runners deliver much needed hay to farmers

When COVID restrictions put a last minute halt to 154 Burrumbuttock Hay Runners due to deliver hay to Queensland farmers, they were down, but not out.

While original plans had to be shelved, organiser Brendan ‘Bumper’ Farrell amassed a small team of local hay runners in two states to deliver hay to remote farming communities.

“With the border restrictions we decided to take about 20 trucks out to Packsaddle, near outback NSW around Tibooburra and we had had trucks heading out of Queensland to Boulia, so none of us had to cross the border with permits,” Brendan said.

While some areas of Australia have enjoyed rain, Brendan says that some regions are still looking bleak.

“There’s a lot of places that still haven’t had any rain,” he said.

“There are places out the other side of Longreach that are still very bare, plus they’ve had the mice plague, so yeah the drought is very real.

“Financially, some farmers are up to 5 or 6 years financially ruined still.

“We just try and keep the dream alive for famers, because it’s a great industry to be in and so that’s what we do.”