Emergency delivery: Tim Ashcroft used two tinnies loaded with feed to cross the flooded river to feed his stranded sheep.
There have been some amazing stories of hardships emerging from the floods and McCoys Bridge farmer Tim Ashcroft has one of them to tell.
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Tim, with the help of neighbours, has been battling for nearly two weeks to keep alive 400 of his sheep stranded and crowded on a small sand ridge on his property, which backs on to the swollen Goulburn River a few kilometres upstream from McCoys Bridge.
After a levee bank breach on the Goulburn River further upstream from his property almost two weeks ago, most of Tim’s land flooded so swiftly he had no chance of getting the sheep to dry land.
So for 10 days Tim had to transport one large bale of hay to the marooned and starving sheep to try to keep them alive. This involved a six- to seven-hour painstaking daily routine.
Initially Tim was feeding grain to the sheep because he had no hay, but Kyabram farmers Brad and Kyle Mueller, who own properties nearby and who have also been hit by the floods, came to the rescue and supplied the hay from their home farm.
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 the Muellers’ McEwen Rd property.
This hay was transported daily by the Muellers to Wells Creek, which runs into the Goulburn River, where Tim was waiting with two small boats to transport the hay to the sheep.
This firstly involved a 2km boat trip on Wells Creek to the Goulburn River and then a 6km journey upstream on the flooded river to a small piece of dry land on his property.
There Tim cranked up his tractor and dragged the boats carrying the hay 600 metres across dry land to another flooded area where he finally took the hay by boat another 1km to the starving sheep.
This arduous task was made a little easier late last week when vehicle access to the start of last leg of the trip became possible, eliminating the creek and river trips.
Then when an idea to try to find a route through the floodwaters towing a trailer with his tractor to rescue the sheep was ruled out, Tim had to transport the sheep by boat.
At the weekend, with the assistance of some Melbourne mates, he rescued 300 of the sheep by boat in an operation that lasted 13 hours — and wasn’t without its dramas.
Tim said he had relocated a loader ramp on to the island where the sheep were to load them, and in some trips had up to 15 of the smaller sheep in the boat, towing them to safety.
Tim was surprised only a few jumped out of the boat when being transported across the water, but on Sunday a load of sheep were tipped into the floodwater; fortunately, all swam to safety.
Tim said he lost about 50 sheep and lambs from stress and starvation during the ordeal, but was just happy to rescue the amount he did.
‘‘I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the help of Muellers Brad and Kyle, and I will be ever grateful to them,’’ he said.
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