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“My dog and cat stayed with me on the mattress. I had to escape through the window.”
He said he found more dead cattle downriver and heard of more washed up on beaches.
Doug Schlenert mentions that dairy farming is part of his identity and he is reluctant to abandon it. However, he acknowledges that recovery will be a prolonged and challenging process. Source: SBS News
Kevin’s story is one shared by many dairy farmers in the area.
“I’d like to say to him, ‘I found 32 dead cows, prime minister, are you gonna replace them?'”
Distressing scenes on beaches with dead cattle washing up along with huge amounts of debris washed out of flood zones. Source: SBS News
Kevin said cows are turning up alive, but it’s difficult to get them back to the pastures.
“We don’t have horses, motorbikes to get them off the beaches, and there’s still cattle running loose on the streets.”
Heavy machinery clearing dead cows and debris from Old Bar Beach on Friday. Source: SBS News
An outpouring of support
“It’s in our blood — my dad, his dad, and his dad. Three generations of dairy farmers,” Doug said.
The floods that tore through the Manning Valley left numerous cattle carcasses on the beaches. Efforts to remove them commenced on Friday, but more carcasses continue to wash ashore. Source: SBS News
He says they need a new vat and compressors to start up dairy production again, as their equipment was destroyed in the flood.
“Then I’d start paying it back over 12 years. That would be getting me close up to 70 years of age, I don’t know if I still want to be dairying then,” Kevin said.
Call for flood warning sirens
“If the politicians don’t get off their bums and put the flood warning sirens in place, it’s not going to prevent another disaster like this.”
Cattle being moved to higher ground on Oxley Island. Farmers there said contingency plans went out the window, and what they thought was higher ground wasn’t enough to save hundreds of cattle being swept away in floodwaters. Source: Supplied / Laura Polson
What help is available?
“We do note that the NSW SES is leading the flood response, and Rural Aid has stepped in to provide practical support to farmers recovering from natural disasters. Both of these organisations accept donations,” the spokesperson said.
