“Farmers ripping off farmers”: Just how hard is the drought hitting West Vic farmers?

Myles Keith, 24, has farming in his blood. Hailing from a sheep, cattle and crop farm near Elmhurst, northeast of Ararat, there’s nothing he enjoys more than reeling in a decent fish and having a cold beer. 

Although his love of the land runs deep, it will take time to heal from the scars of the past 18 months, including the Bayindeen fire. Keith, alongside his parents Jon and Sarah and siblings Hamish and Zoe, fought for days to protect their family farm against the blaze.

Keith spoke to the Brolga about life on the land and the monumental challenges posed by fire and drought. 

In his own words

“The Bayindeen fire 18 months ago was a fairly big fire, [it] burnt the entirety of Mount Coal and a lot of neighbouring properties, and it actually burnt a third of our property, so we lost 1,000 acres and 22 kilometres of fence.

I'll tell you what, it's been bloody heartbreaking, it pushed me and my family to the absolute limit.

Even now it's a bit daunting; I'll drive back to the farm and you look at what's been burnt and how hard you worked in those days of it burning, it burnt our place in three different spots.

Farmers ripping off farmers

It's tough in a family business. It's me and my dad mainly, my brother’s here a bit of the time, and honestly it's nothing short of depressing. 

With no rain and no feed, to try and get a semi load of hay, it’s farmers ripping off farmers at the moment, because they’re just trying to make a living, and it’s sickening.

We would have bought in close to $100,000 worth of hay and carted over two million litres of water, and had to buy in tanks, because with this fire we had choppers drag a heap of water out to fight the fire.

Dam levels down

We’re more than happy to see that, that’s bloody awesome, but [it’s] more the fact that in the months after the fire has gone, these dams have dropped dramatically. I’ll go out every morning, and I’ve pulled 10 sheep out of a dam now to save [their lives].

It's scary, and it brings out that big daunting question of mental health… I'm pretty worried now.

A lot of people this time of year [are] trying to put crops in and wondering why they're even spending this money if it's not [going to] rain.

The damage is done. You can't even buy a load of hay now; we’re going to struggle to even see molasses and straw. We’ve been feeding out bales that have been sitting in the paddock for 10 years and the cows are eating them.”