Tim with the help of some neighbours has been battling for nearly two weeks to keep alive 400 of his sheep stranded and crowded on a small sandridge on his property which backs onto the swollen Goulburn River a few kilometres upstream from McCoys bridge.
After a levee bank breach on the Goulburn Rioer further upstream from his property almost two weeks ago river flooded most of Tim’s land so swiftly he had no chance of rescuing the sheep and getting them to dry land.
So for the last 12 days Tim has been transporting one large bale of hay to the marooned sheep to keep them alive. This has involved a six to seven hour painstaking daily routine
Initially Tim was feeding grain to the sheep because he had no hay but Brad and Kyle Mueller who have properties nearby and who have been hit also by the floods came to the rescue and supplied the hay from Brad’s home farm in McEwen Rd, Kyabram.
Then when floodwaters didn’t recede and things were getting desperate an SOS call went out to Need For Feed _ an assistance group helping flooded stock owners _ to supply hay to feed the marooned and distressed sheep. There was instant action on this request with a semi-trainer of donated hay promptly arriving at Mueller’s McEwen Rd property.
This hay is transported daily by the Muellers to Wells Creek which runs into the Goulburn River were Tim is waiting with two small boats to transport the hay to the sheep.
This firstly involves a 2km boat trip on Wells Creek to the Goulburn River and then a five to six kilometres journey upstream on the flooded river to an unaffected area on his property.
There Tim cranks up his tractor and drags the boats carrying the hay 500 to 600 metres across dry land to another flooded area where he finally boats the hay about another 900 metres to the starving sheep.
Some premature lambs from the flock have been rescued and cared for and yesterday Tim was attempting to find a route through the floodwaters in which he was hoping may be able to tow a trailer with his tractor to rescue the sheep.
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