Heywood dairy farmers unable to access drought assistance because they are sharefarmers

New parents Michael Hawker and Maddy Campbell secured their dream when they bought into a dairy farm in Victoria’s southwest. They didn’t realise it meant they couldn’t access government drought assistance.

Last year new parents Michael Hawker and Maddy Campbell bought their first farm.

Two months later, drought hit.

Fifteen months ago the pair accomplished their dream – taking a 34 per cent stake in a Heywood dairy farm in southwest Victoria.

What followed was a major dry spell which saw milk prices drop 17 per cent and the cost to feed their livestock skyrocket.

With a newborn baby now in their arms, the situation has taken a grave emotional toll on the couple.

Due to their sharefarmer status the young family does not qualify for government relief.

“Because we’re share farmers … we’re not eligible for any funding,” Ms Campbell said.

“We’ve had to rely on lines of credit just to stay afloat”.

Michael Hawker and Maddy Campbell bought their first farm last year. Picture: Nicole Cleary

The couple has managed to keep their cows watered due to still flowing groundwater but know this is bound to run out.

“Some of our neighbours have had their bores run dry … we’ve been lucky but that could change any day,” Mr Hawker said.

The drought is having a “big emotional toll” on farmers.

“I have a group of about five other farmer friends in the local district and we pretty much check in with each other almost daily,” he said.

“Among farming communities there’s feelings of isolation so sometimes it’s nice to know that there’s someone who has got your back … the state government’s support package has been underwhelming”.

Since April 2023, southwest Victoria has faced a notable lack of rainfall.

Heywood’s neighbouring town of Hamilton received just 20.2mm of rain last month.

The Hawker’s don’t qualify for drought assistance because of their sharefarmer status. Picture: Supplied

Mr Hawker said the young couple had been “very lucky on the farm (they’re) on to have jagged a couple of random thunderstorms that most of the district missed out on”.

Without the rainfall the young farmers would have had to stretch their already thin margins even further – with hay that once cost $200 a tonne now selling for up to $700.

“The storms were enough to germinate some crops and they’re saving us about 20 per cent of our feed costs,” he said.

However, despite seeing some grass growing, the couple said “it’s only a fraction of what we should be seeing at this time”.

With western Victoria tracking 4.1 per cent down on milk production compared to last season the couple suspect an “even bigger decrease over the next couple of months because there are areas that haven’t seen any rain yet”.

“You can push yourself hard for a short period of time to get through a tough patch, but you can’t do it forever,” Hawker said.

Victorian Farmers Federation President Brett Hosking agreed the drought assistance package should be expanded to include share farmers, and said it was another topic of conversation in Friday’s first Drought Response Taskforce meeting.

“Every farming model would be different and depending on what industry you’re in, you’d be feeling the impacts of the drought sometimes in similar ways or sometimes in more nuanced ways,” he said.

“So making sure that we’re thinking about packages that can meet the needs of as many people as possible – if not everyone – and provide real meaningful support to everyone was one of the real challenges that was discussed.”

Originally published as Heywood dairy farmers unable to access drought assistance because they are sharefarmers