THE Sharing the Load hay drive has had a profound impact on the Collie community, according to local farmer Frances Wilson.
Ms Wilson, whose friendship with Mystic Park publican Michele Minogue sparked the initiative, said community members had been really moved by the whole experience.
“It was a huge game changer in terms of morale for some people I think,” she said.
“Not just because of the significant amount of hay they have sitting in their paddocks now but because of the attitudes and generosity of everyone who came up from Victoria, their openness to talk and chat and share their experiences.
Ms Wilson said many locals who gathered at the pub on Saturday night hadn’t been out in a long while.
“People came together and I saw farmers laughing and relaxing and everyone just enjoying each other’s company,” she said.
“There’s so much bad news around but this was a real celebration of the fact that humans can come together and support each other.”
Ms Wilson said she and her partner, Nick Evans, spent many hours on the intense logistics of organising the distribution of the donated hay.
With the fodder a mix of various sized bales of straw, vetch and lucerne arriving on different sized trucks, dividing it up evenly was complicated.
“We were up until 2am the night before they arrived, with Nick working his wizardry on a spreadsheet to finalise who was getting what and which trucks were going where,” she said.
Amateur photographer Kerry McFarlane from Cannie, near Lalbert, saw how badly needed the fodder was.
“I think everyone felt the same,” she said.
“We all knew it was dry and in drought but we were all smacked in the face by how dry it was – It was just dirt.”
The property she visited, which served as a distribution point for the hay, had largely destocked.
“They were holding the bare minimum,” she said.
“They had good crop and equipment.
It was obviously a good farm.
“But they’ve only kept their breeders or the bare minimum.
Even the hay left in the backs of the trucks was swept up and put into a feeder, Ms McFarlane said.
“When I asked how long the hay would last, the farmer said five to seven days.
“But he said, that doesn’t matter, what you’ve done has propped us up to keep going.”
Ms McFarlane, one of around 40 Victorians who took part in the run, believed she got more out of the experience than those receiving donations.
“It was so good to be part of it,” she said.
“It was just a straight swap of generosity.”
