Wodonga store sale raises enough for more than 600 hours mental health support

Agents at the recent Wodonga sale wore colourful clothes to highlight mental health among farmers, and raised enough funds for more than 600 hours of counselling.

Stock agents love a chat but it wasn’t cattle prices that was the topic of conversation at last week’s Wodonga store sale.

And while they might normally be fiercely competitive, Wodonga agents put aside their rivalries in the name of mental health this week.

There were almost 4000 cattle on offer at the Wodonga yards in Thursday’s mental health and suicide awareness sale as agents made a deliberate effort to get people talking.

Agents donned Trademutt bright shirts to try to prompt conversations about mental health at the Wodonga store cattle sale.

Part of the awareness was the donning of bright shirts, as agents traded their pink and green uniforms for loud colours.

Several producers donated cattle, which were sold at the front of Thursday's sale, which contributed $24,592 to the overall fundraising total of more than $58,000.

And one of those buyers – David Hill from David Hill Livestock and Marketing at Albury, NSW, took the goodwill further by donating the beast he bought for $4000 to the local Carevan charity, which provides meals for needy people in Albury-Wodonga. The steer was donated by D and J Gray from Huon Charolais at Jindera and weighed 640kg.

David Hill from David Hill Livestock and Marketing paid $4000 for this donated steer at the Wodonga store cattle sale, with the funds going to mental health support. He then donated the steer to the Carevan in Albury which feeds needy people.

“It is important to support your local community,” Mr Hall said.

“Carevan did not know I was going to do this so they got a bit of a shock when I rang.

“But I would estimate this steer will provide enough beef for the Carevan to supply meals for about three months.”

And in a further act of generosity, the McPhee family from Ascot Meats at Wodonga offered to process the steer and Locky's Countryside Meats in Albury volunteered to cut the beast up.

Agents donned Trademutt bright shirts to try to prompt conversations about mental health at the Wodonga store cattle sale.

Elders Albury livestock manager Brett Shea said the money raised would go to the This Is A Conversation Starter charity, a free phone and text counselling service offering mental health support to Australia’s blue collar community.

“With the grand total of $58,052.40, we will be able to provide money to support 645 hours of free counselling to the blue collar community,” Mr Shea said.

The store sale was the brainchild of Elders and Paull and Scollard Nutrien after a series of suicides among farming clients and families of the Albury-based stock and station

agents.

If you or someone you know is experiencing distress, call Lifeline on 131 114, or text 0477 131 114.

Harry Cozens from Elders at Albury was one of the agents to don brightly coloured shirts to encourage people to talk about mental health at the Wodonga store cattle sale.