Floods hit again: Loddon Valley farmers lose 300km of fencing

The Allan government is being called on to support more than 20 Loddon Valley farmers who lost 300km of fencing in Christmas Eve floods.

Loddon Valley mixed farmer Peter Gibson has lost 10km of fencing in the Christmas Eve floods.

More than 20 Loddon Valley farmers, surrounding Wedderburn Junction, have called for support in rebuilding 300km of fencing that was swept away in Christmas Eve floods.

Local sheep and grain growers Amber and Peter Gibson said three different water sources poured into the Korong Creek, on the back of 90mm of rain, sweeping across their property and taking 10km of fencing with it.

It’s the second time the Gibsons have been hit by floods, after losing fencing and pasture during the October 2022 disaster that devastated hundreds of farms across Northern Victoria.

“It’ll take about four to six months to replace the fencing, between shearing and other work,” Ms Gibson said.

As for their mob of 3000 sheep, the Gibsons have corralled them into a block, with propped up fences, as they desperately try to rebuild other boundary and internal fencing to give their stock access to what remains of their pastures.

Nearby farmer John Tonkin said the localised flood was worse than the big flood that hit the family property in 1974, when he was 10 years old.

“(Back then) it got to the stumps of the house, (but) this time it went a third of the way under,” Mr Tonkin said.

The end result was the loss of 5km of fencing, with the water travelling so swiftly across the property early Christmas morning that Mr Tonkin said it swept away reinforced concrete strainer posts, which he was yet to find.

On Friday this week he was in the farm workshop making up new strainer posts from old railway track, but said a shortage of labour meant it would take two to three months to replace the 5km of fencing he lost.

“I start shearing in four weeks,” he said.

Victorian Nationals Leader Peter Walsh visited the region this week.

“Having seen the damage first-hand, I urge the Allan government to do something to help,” Mr Walsh said. “It must now be classified as a natural disaster.”

He urged the Allan government to roll out the Primary Producer recovery grants of up to $75,000 for farmers and $25,000 for rural landholders that were available during the 2022 floods.

Wedderburn is represented by Labor MP Martha Haylett, who holds what is regional Victoria’s most marginal electorate – Ripon – on a margin of just 3 per cent.

Emergency Services Minister Jaclyn Symes said on Friday morning that “we have to undertake assessments and councils are working on that right now, feeding it back to the state government as is appropriate”.