Nine years ago, Mick and Paula Hughes of Inverloch learned about drought in South Gippsland.
A few years prior, the couple had moved its dairy business to the coastal Inverloch dryland farm with its reliable rainfall.
But it stopped raining and groundwater became scarce.
In 2016, an innovative decision involving five dairy farmers and the local water authority, saw a disused dam made available for stock and domestic water.
South Gippsland Water offered the farmers water from the disused Inverloch water basin for stock use and to wash down their dairies.
Those five farmers funded the work to pipe water to their farms from the dis-used water reserve.
They lay 90mm polypipe across 15 kilometres of farmland, under fence lines and roadways as much as possible. The job cost 600 hours of work and about $140,000 to set up.
The pipeline provided 5000 litres of water daily for each farm, calculated at a drinking water rate of 150 litres/cow/day, and 2000 litres for dairy washdown.
The five farmers were on a roster for pumping the water from the main source to a central dam on each farm.
In all, 3000 dairy cows were saved, and the rescue effort kept five dairy farms operating.
The work to drought-proof their farms didn’t stop there.
“After 2016, we built more dams, enlarged dams and de-silted dams,” Mick said this month.
“We’re doing it again now, to try and get through this drought [in 2025].
“We’ve also cleaned out existing drains and cut in more spoon drains to catch run-off and direct it to dams when it rains.
“So is every other farmer — everywhere I look, there’s an excavator cleaning out dams and cutting in more drains to catch run-off when it does eventually rain.”
This year, every farmer in South and West Gippsland and the Latrobe Valley knows it is important to do all they can to preserve water.
But that knowledge doesn’t help when rain doesn’t fall. Farmers have been feeding out since December 2024 and many have been conserving water for longer.
Similar innovative ideas need to be considered this time around, as dairy farmers in West and South Gippsland and the Latrobe Valley ask for help.
“We’ve been talking to water authorities about using disused reservoirs, dams and to get bores up and running — if there’s any around — for those farmers out of water or low on water stores,” Mick said.
Mick is a board member of GippsDairy.
“We’re trying to find water, but there doesn’t appear to be any available,” he said.
Farmers in the district are doing everything possible to mitigate the effects of the drought, while retaining enough cows to maintain an income.
“Every farmer is de-stocking, every farmer is talking about water, and every farmer is hoping for winter rain,” Mick said.
“Farmers are transferring water across farms, running pipes across paddocks, and pumping water between dams. They are also using their effluent trucks and firefighting pumps to move water.”
GippsDairy board president Sarah O’Brien said there were hundreds of dairy farmers affected by the lack of rainfall.
“We held farmer events in Inverloch and Drouin in late May for drought impacted farmers across Gippsland,” she said.
“There are South Gippsland farmers who have been conserving water supplies since spring 2024.
“Both events attracted 65 farmers each who were keen for information, tips and strategies on extending current resources available to them, and how to access wider support.
“There are many more farmers who are struggling who didn’t get to these events.”
GippsDairy personnel are liaising with water authorities to try and determine avenues for supplying water on farm for stock and domestic use.
Farmers need access to emergency water supply points managed by councils and water authorities, and to public and private bores across the region.
GippsDairy also wants planning authorities to fast-track requests from farmers to clean out dams, enlarge dams and to build new dams.
“Just under 20,000 litres costs about $500 at the standpipe, and that’s not sustainable,” Mick Hughes said, a dairy farmer at Inverloch and GippsDairy’s board of management member.
“Alternate water sources don’t appear to be available to us.
“Coastal bores are saline, which won’t help for stock use.”
Groundwater bores further inland of the coastal South Gippsland zone and in West Gippsland should be able to provide portable water.
While the Victorian Government announced the desalination plant at Wonthaggi would be brought online in the 2025-26 financial year, the reality is that the regulatory framework prioritises this water for households in Melbourne and Geelong.
Victorian Water Minister Gayle Tierney would need to push significant changes through government to make the desalination water available to farmers.
A Victorian Government spokesperson confirmed that the desalination plant could support one-third of Melbourne’s annual water demand.
“It underpins domestic water supply,” they said.
“An order for 50 billion litres of water has been made on the Victorian Desalination Plant.
“Average drinking water storage levels across the state have fallen to 50 per cent as Victoria’s dry conditions continue.
“Opportunities to maximise fit-for-purpose water use and improve water security for regional communities are always under consideration.”
Andrew McLean of the Bureau of Meteorology, in a video link to a GippsDairy meeting in May, noted that green vegetation in Bass Coast, Baw Baw and South Gippsland shires was close to the lowest level recorded since 2001.
He indicated a warmer winter was likely, but the weather predictors were uncertain about temperature or rain.
“The weather and rainfall outlook in the next few months is not positive,” Sarah O’Brien said.
“Rain will occur, but run-off may not fill dams until late winter or spring.
“There are expected flow on effects to milk production in spring, which is usually the peak production season.”
Fodder will become hard to source and buy, and even with rain, the cold winter months will retard pasture growth across farms.
“Without feed availability and no spring grass, freshly calved cows will not be productive or profitable,” Sarah said.
GippsDairy board has sought a number of outcomes from government authorities, including easing of the Southern Rural Water authority’s private dam construction licence requirements, and easing of the Southern Rural Water authority’s associated fees for applications to alter existing dams – for example, to clean out a dam or enlarge a dam.
“Many farmers have now spent many months moving water between dams on their properties, or from neighbouring properties,” Sarah said.
“They are also spending hours each day feeding out to their herds, and sourcing fodder.
“They’re exhausted.
“Easing restrictions on applications to clean out and enlarge dams is essential to farmer wellbeing and to enable them to get ready to capture more run-off water.”
Neil Gannon has experience with innovative solutions to drought in Gippsland. He is a United Dairyfarmers of Victoria representative and a dairy farmer in the Macalister Irrigation District.
“In 2008, we did water swaps from the Thompson dam, which supplies Melbourne households with their water, to support Werribee farmers with their productivity,” Neil said.
He also recommended commissioning emergency bores for stock and domestic use in drought areas. The emergency bores system is used to monitor groundwater supply.
“The emergency bores are owned by water authorities,” Neil said.
“If these bores can be commissioned for commercial use, then the water authorities and farmers can run an emergency line of piping to help them get by.”
GippsDairy board has asked the Victorian Government to use the Wonthaggi Desalination Plant to provide water to regional domestic households as a priority, which would take the pressure off regional water authorities to supply standpipe water for farmers for stock and domestic use.
“We are also asking for a reduction in the cost of buying water from standpipes,” Sarah said.
GippsDairy board has requested a transport subsidy be available to farmers or contractors who are carting water for stock and domestic use.
One dairy farmer said he was paying $7000 per month for fuel for tractors, other vehicles, pumps and generators.
He said a regular rebate on the fuel excise tax would make a difference, freeing up cash to buy fodder for his milking herd.
Farmers are reporting spending $1000s weekly on buying feed.
His proposal received support from Sarah O’Brien.
“Transport subsidies for farmers who have run out of stock water would be welcomed,” she said.
“A simple application method and quick turnaround sounds like a terrific idea.”
Mick Hughes also agreed that a fuel tax rebate would be useful, if the government supported it with an easy and quick application method.
Preparing for the pain
Mick and Paula Hughes have done all they can since last December to offset the lack of rainfall.
Mick said water was their biggest issue on the farm.
“We had a good spring and harvested all the fodder we thought we’d need [in a normal season],” he said.
“Then the season shut down and it’s stayed that way.
“We’ve been in drought since January. We started feeding cows in December, before Christmas.”
Mick and Paula sold empty cows earlier in the year than they wanted to, to reduce the pressure on fodder supplies and the time needed every day to feed out.
They have reduced their milking herd from 350 to 280.
“We plan on retaining that number,” Mick said.
“But if we have to buy water, we’ll definitely sell more cows.”
Many dairy farmers in drought will have to rely on raising heifers over several years to replace the cows they have had to de-stock.
Mick recently thought he had secured fodder for his milking herd, that was then sold elsewhere. He has since looked overseas for feed options.
“Two loads of hay were sold out from under me,” Mick said.
“Since then I was able to get a B-double load of vetch hay.
“As far as trying to winter feed cows, we’ve locked in a couple of loads of [imported] palm kernels.”