Cows crushed by trees, watered overturned, fences broken and without electricity; these are the challenges facing farmers in northern Tasmania as they clean up after the weekend storms.
Key points:
- Wind gusts of more than 100 kilometers per hour knocked down trees and cut off electricity to several dairy farms in northern Tasmania.
- A farmer killed cattle by falling from a tree
- There are concerns that some cows have gone three days without milking due to power outages
At its peak, some 20,000 people were stranded without electricity, with many farmers still disconnected.
They have had to resort to diesel generators to run dairies and continue to pump drinking water flowing into dairy herds.
Dairy Plains farmer Brett Atkins said his property was “in the middle” and was the worst storm he had ever experienced.
“He flattened a lot of our sheds and we think they are about 100 hundred trees, and we lost a few cows because of a tree that fell,” Atkins said.
“We have enough generators, but the challenge has been to bring water to the stock.
“We had a storm like this in the late ’80s that flattened a lot of trees, but we didn’t have anything like that. We never lost energy for more than 24-48 hours. We’re on our way to doubling it.”
Alana Atkins and her husband Brent have spent days clearing fallen trees after strong winds over the weekend. (ABC News: Lachlan Bennett)
Marcus Crowden, a dairy farmer at the cave, has managed to get the generators running to ensure that the daily milking continues, despite the lack of energy.
“We’ve been losing power for a couple of days; we still don’t have energy in our robotic dairy, so we’re running it on a generator 24 hours a day,” he said.
“We had a small win. There’s a central pivot on one of our properties that has flown two or three times before. Fortunately, this time it stayed.”
Brent Atkins says it has been a challenge to keep water in his flock. (ABC News: Lachlan Bennett)
Meander Valley Mayor Wayne Johnston spent Saturday night waiting for the windows of his house not to yield.
“One of the strongest winds I’ve experienced, from Saturday night to Sunday night was terrible, I’m actually surprised there was no more damage,” Cr Johnston said.
“Most farmers have generators that run, but we are lucky to have wood heaters in the house because otherwise it would be cold.
“Life goes on, we just have to clean up and move on, that’s all we can do.”
Concern for unmilked cows
Damage to weekend storm farms is estimated at millions of dollars. (Provided by: Brent Atkins)
The Tasmanian Farmers’ Association continues to work to get an accurate picture of the damage.
President Ian Sauer said some properties needed urgent help.
“Our concern is that it is an issue of animal welfare, three cows have not been milked for three days, last night in some areas it was minus 8 degrees,” he said.
“In addition, with all the damage that has been done, our farmers and partners will be willing to higher insurance.
“Out there is nothing short of a trap.”
Sauer also said the organization is coordinating with TasNetworks for assistance to affected farmers.
“We are targeting TasNetworks in different small areas where there are groups of farmers without electricity, and we are also supplying affected generators or properties.
“There are hundreds of people affected.”
Although these are the first days, the Tasmanian Farmers’ Association expects property damage to cost farmers millions.
“The pivots are gone, the buildings have been banished, the cattle have been lost, the damage bill will be huge,” Sauer said.
Brent Atkins says about 100 trees were felled on this Dairy Plains farm. (ABC News: Lachlan Bennett)
Posted 8 hours ago Tuesday, June 14, 2022 at 6:43 AM, updated 8 hours ago, 8 hours ago, Tuesday, June 14, 2022 at 7:02 AM