Tony Buttsworth describes his farm on NSW’s Mid North Coast as “the heart and soul” of his family.
But right now, the proud third-generation farmer can barely stand to look at the land he has loved for 50 years.
As he points to the dairy cows surrounded by slush and mud, waiting to be fed, his voice breaks.
“I don’t know how to get out of this one,” he says, wiping away tears.
“There’s nowhere left for the cows, there’s no feed. I don’t know whether we can continue.”
When torrential rain soaked the region last week, it left the Moorland property underwater, causing significant damage to the land and destroying around $100,000 worth of fertiliser and seed.
Tony and his brother Bobby Buttsworth now have more than 500 hungry mouths to feed — and only one green paddock remaining.
The animals are quickly deteriorating, and many will need to be sent to the abattoir.
“We were milking 500 cows but we’re going to have to lessen the herd a fair bit,” Bobby says.
As his brother quietly tells him, he’s already contacted the meatworks to organise for some cows to be taken away. Bobby turns away with tears in his eyes.
Tony Buttsworth, (right), says there’s nowhere left for the cows to feed. (ABC News: Jack Ailwood)
Recovery could take ‘at least 12 months’
The two men took over the family business from their father, who spent a lifetime building it to where it is today.
Tony left school at the age of 14 to work on this land with his dad. His two adult sons now work alongside him.
The farm is now spread across 2,800 acres and produces “a few million litres” of milk a year.
The brothers estimate it would take at least 12 months to return the farm to its former condition.
“It’s not a straight away recovery, it’s going to take a long time,” Bobby says.
“All farmers are going to need a lot of assistance.”
The farm spreads across 2,800 acres and produces “a few million litres” of milk a year. (ABC News: Jack Ailwood)
The two farmers are hoping the state and federal governments will offer grants to help with their recovery.
They also believe a temporary freeze on interest repayments on loans would help the hundreds of producers in the region affected by the floods.
Despite the emotion etched on their faces, they insist other farmers around Coopernook are doing it much tougher.
One local producer at Coopernook lost a herd of 800 cows, they say.
The flooding also impacted herds at Coopernook. (ABC News)
Federal relief confirmed, NSW help still to be worked out
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is planning to visit flood-affected communities on the Mid North Coast on Tuesday, after an earlier attempt to reach the worst-hit areas was thwarted by wild weather.
On Monday he confirmed the federal government will provide concessional loans for primary producers and small businesses affected by the crisis.
“The primary producer loan allows for concessional rate loans as well as freight subsidies to help transport livestock, and also to support fodder being given to those areas,” he says.
Premier Chris Minns, (left), says previous relief packages have “missed the mark”, and he wants to get it right this time. (Facebook: Jihad Dib MP)
Premier Chris Minns says the state government will announce a recovery package soon.
“I’m cognisant in natural disasters in the past, governments have, very laudably and very understandably, launched the package and it has missed the mark, it hasn’t quite worked, it hasn’t gone to the right areas,” he notes.
“I’m determined to get this right. Whilst we’ve still got many, many farms in many, many communities inundated, we haven’t been able to do that assessment, but it’s coming quick.”
NSW Nationals Leader Dugald Saunders is urging the state government to declare the incident a Category C or Category D disaster, using council assessment data.
This would activate grants for primary producers through a cost-sharing arrangement between the state and federal governments.
“People don’t want concessional loans,” Mr Saunders says.
The SES has been dropping emergency supplies to farms in the region. (Supplied: NSW SES)
He argues they need immediate financial support to fix fences and infrastructure.
“They need things that make a difference immediately to get work happening on the farm so people can get back to operations is critical,” he says.
“And we really need to see that in the next few days.”
NSW SES has been dropping emergency feed supplies to farms in the region, but not all are accessible by chopper.
Western Sydney-based charity Turbans 4 Australia is also planning to deliver fodder to the region later this week.
Founder Amar Singh tells ABC News the organisation is aiming to send eight to 10 trucks of hay to Taree and other parts of the Mid North Coast.
“It’s an act of solidarity with these regional communities — they do so much for us,” he says.
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