Unbelievable footage shows the heartbreaking moment Aussie dairy farmers were forced to dump hundreds of litres of perfectly good milk.
Farmers across New South Wales and Queensland have been forced to dump hundreds of thousands of litres of milk in the wake of flooding caused by ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
Devastating footage taken earlier this week shows milk cascading from a dairy farm’s containers as its owner literally watches his profits tumble down the drain in a tragic display of mother nature’s flow-on effects.
As flooding slowly recedes across much of northern coastal New South Wales and southern Queensland, dairy farmers have been forced to dump hundreds of thousands of litres of milk, costing dozens of small dairies potentially millions of dollars.
Julie Moore has lived in the mountain town of Dorrigo on the NSW Mid-North Coast for a little over 20 years, and this is the first time her dairy has been forced to dump milk due to climate-related circumstances.
“Because of good old Cyclone Alfie, the Dorrigo Mountain was closed for a week due to flooding, so there was no tanker access up the mountain,” she said.
Dorrigo and its surrounding dairy farms sit on a plateau at the top of a steep, winding mountain road which is difficult enough for truck drivers to navigate when there isn’t flash-flooding.
Typically, if the mountain is closed, trucks can drive north from the Norco processing centre in Raleigh and take the long way around through Grafton – but thanks to Alfred, that route has also been flooded.
Dairy farmer Julie Moore of Dorrigo in NSW. Picture: Supplied
“Because Dorrigo’s water runs down the Nymboida towards Grafton, there was also flooding down that way. The tankers couldn’t get in for three days to the twelve farms on the plateau,” said Ms Moore.
“Milk, being a raw product, it’s not allowed to be held on a farm any longer than 48 hours. When we went to the third day, we had a bit over 9,000 litres we had to put down the drain,” she told news.com.au.
The herd of both Holstein and Guernseys grazing at Julie and Michael Moore’s property at Dorrigo in the New England region of NSW. Picture: Supplied
In total, the Norco farms affected by Alfred’s residual flooding were forced to dump over 375,000 litres of milk.
At two dollars a litre, that’s almost $750,000 dollars lost between farmers and the retailers their milk is sold to.
Farmers that contribute their milk to Norco are reimbursed for any milk that gets lost due to circumstances beyond their control, however profit margins for the co-operative will still be dramatically affected come end-of-financial year.
Norco CEO Michael Hampson believes there will be limited supply chain issues, and most consumers won’t feel the stress at all.
Norco CEO Michael Hampson. Picture: Supplied
“The supply chain for milk will recover. We’re anticipating white milk supplies will be fine today, if not tomorrow and the flavoured and specialty milk certainly next week. We’re working around the clock – 24/7 – to get milk into supermarkets, pubs, clubs, cafes and consumers should see that resolved shortly,” he said.
Mr Hampson has suggested that while the supply chain won’t suffer, farmers will still feel the immediate and long term effects of Alfred’s residual wet weather.
“The farmer impact is going to go on for a long time because animals don’t actually like the wet. They’ll get sore feet, three day sickness, mastitis, those kinds of things and farmers may have to dry off a number of cows so they might have a reduction in output and a potential reduction in their incomes over the next three to six months,” said Mr Hampson.
Mr Hampson believes adaptability is key moving forward
A Norco truck idles outside the co-operative’s Queensland milk processing facility. Picture: Richard Gosling
“A major issue in these weather events is losing power … our milk bottling facility has backup generators. A lot of our dairy farmers have on-farm generation for backup power so they can run their milking machines,” he said.
“Our dairy farmers have incredibly detailed plans with how they manage their properties during these times, but they will need to be supported as they recover from these kinds of events because there is a significant cost which a dairy farmer has to pay.”
Ms Moore said it’s important for Aussie consumers to understand and respect the industries they most take for granted, including the dairy industry.
“A lot of hard work goes into getting a litre of milk onto shelves in the city,” she said.
“It’s important to remember that.”
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