A Facebook post by a dairy farmer at his wits’ end has inspired a young couple with a special skill set to give up their time and come to help out the whole community.
A desperate Steve Dalitz wrote a short note in April where he said “at this point, cows will all be going at the end of the month. Sorry girls, I’m spent”.
Mr Dalitz was immediately inundated with messages of support and offers of help including from one couple, Alfie Jessup and Jess Mumford, who offered to come and help for a week.
The offers inspired the farmer to battle on, and welcome rain has since fallen.
Unable to afford maintaining machinery
The problem with such a rush of offers to help was that Mr Dalitz did not have enough work — in such dry times — for workers to do.
A plan was hatched, and the couple eventually helped a number of farmers in their time of need.
In tough times, dairy farmers have been looking for any way they can to cut costs — including avoiding costly services on farm equipment and machinery.
Those concerns led Mr Jessup, who is a mechanic by trade, to spend a week with his partner Ms Mumford on drought-affected farms servicing neglected equipment for those who simply could not afford it.
“We got in touch with a few families in the Shepparton area and ended up with a dozen people to go and see,” Mr Jessup said.
Charity group Aussie Helpers paid for the equipment for the services, and the couple got to work.
Any major issues were reported back to the charity for fixing at a later date.
Mr Dalitz said farmers are extremely grateful for the help.
“Most modern tractors now they’re $1,200 to $1,500 just for a basic service. So when you haven’t got any money you go ‘I’ll just leave that another month’.
Source: ABC News
