Bushfires: Burnt-out brothers in Cudgewa shed tears for steers

For the second time in five days, Bill and John Blair are shedding tears as they shoot their cattle.

Bill Blair lays a comforting hand on an injured steer before it is euthanised. Picture: Jason Edwards

For the second time in five days, Bill and John Blair are shedding tears as they shoot their cattle.

Both brothers managed to save their homes from the Corryong fire but it’s cold comfort as they see what has happened to their ­beloved angus steers. They are in the same grim situation as almost all their neighbours, as are farmers across the country.

As each of his now dead cattle is towed away by his nephew Doug to a growing pile, Bill gives them a pat on the neck to say goodbye.

“I’m glad we went for our ­safety, but not glad for our ­animals,” he says.

Overnight on New Year’s Eve, John’s Cudgewa farm was burnt out. He managed to save his home, but he lost his sheds and everything else.

“We were lucky to cop it first. We didn’t have to wait and be ­nervous like these poor buggers,” Mr Blair says.

“It was about midnight when it hit us.

“We lost everything at home. We saved the house, but lost the cattle, sheep.”

About 20km away, Bill’s Towong farm was initially spared, but such is the nature of the ­crisis that fire returned again on Saturday to burn through his farm.

Further down the road, several families fared worse, losing their farms and their homes.

With no power and no communication to know what was going on during Saturday’s horror conditions, Bill and his wife went to Corryong when the blaze struck at 5pm.

Brothers Bill and John Blair wipe away tears after carrying out the heartbreaking task of shooting some of Bill’s angus cattle that were burned in the bushfire at Corryong, in northeast Victoria near the border with NSW. Picture: Jason Edwards

“We made the hard decision to go into town because they’d pulled out the emergency services,” he says.

“I don’t think we could have done anything, and we would have been putting my brother and Doug at risk if they came to help us.

“Doug has a wife and a little baby, so it was better to be out of the way.

“Basically, everything that was insured survived, everything that wasn’t, didn’t.”

Bill lays a comforting hand on his brother’s shoulder. Picture: Jason Edwards

When he returned to his farm on Sunday and saw all his sheds destroyed, fences gone and paddocks black, Bill lost hope that any of his steers had survived. When he found 21 had escaped and were huddled near a river, he cried tears of joy for them.

But for a second day he watches devastated as his brother ends the pain for the injured cattle who never made it to the river, less than a week after losing his own.

The two are taking heart from the support they and everyone else in the fire-ravaged areas is receiving.

“It’s been amazing. We’ve had friends bringing in hay, the hay runners … more turned up yesterday,” John says.

“People have even sent dog food and all the little stuff. This is just normal people doing it, not the government.”

Herald Sun