Paul, Sharon and Matthew Weir have faced floods before. But nothing like the one that devastated their northern NSW farm in late February.
When they spoke to Dairy News in mid-March, they were desperate to get power reconnected so they can use their high pressure firefighting equipment to clean the mud out of their herringbone dairy and get their remaining cows home for milking.
The family experienced a record-breaking flood that rose above levy banks and swept across their farm at Tuncester, 10km out of Lismore.
“These floodwaters were two metres higher than the previous record,” Paul said.
“We are on a floodplain, but our infrastructure is above the (previous record) flood level by half a metre.”
The Weir farm had water across it in 1954, 1974, 1989 and 2017. Leycester Creek becomes a major tributary in their valley, where the catchments of five valleys merge.
A dairy farmer well experienced with flood mitigation, Paul and his son, Matthew, kept a rolling check on the expected flood, moving irrigation equipment, tractors and their herd of Holstein and hybrid cows up to the house and dairy where they thought it would all be safe.
“We finished milking 300 cows on Sunday afternoon (February 27) and put them in their night paddock,” Paul said.
“At that time, Leycester Creek was four metres high, less than halfway up the bank.
“At midnight we brought the cows up to the feedpad. Matthew mixed up some feed in the silage wagon — enough to feed them on the pad for a couple of days.
“They [authorities] were talking about a peak at 6am.”
The family left lights on around the house, sheds and dairy, so they could see what the water was doing.
“About 3.30am the water was racing through the dairy,” Paul said.
“Matthew and I went to check the cows in the dairy yards and on the feedpad and they were okay. Walking the 50 metres back to the house, I nearly got swept away in the strength of the water.”
He said his decision making was based on previous flood experience. In previous floods, once the levy banks at Lismore were breached, the floodwater tended to run away. Paul noted with this flood that didn’t happen.
“The floodwater kept rising,” he said.
“By 6am, it was obviously a record flood.
“Above me, there’s five valleys that merge into one creek, and we were getting over 700mm of rain into each of those valleys. The Wilson River and Leycester Creek peaked at the same time.”
At daybreak, pumps, irrigation and almost all machinery were gone. The dairy, sheds and the first storey of the family home were inundated.
“The water was 30cm from the ceiling,” Paul said.
Some of their milking herd drowned in the dairy yard, some when they were swept downstream in the water. Some of them swam to their herd mates on the feed pad.
Thirty cows have cuts and abrasions and are being nursed by Paul, Sharon and Matthew. The family is still milking 170 cows.
When they talked to Dairy News in mid-March, the family was living with Paul’s sister and, with grid electricity still offline, the two families had a fridge, freezer and lamp plugged into a generator.
The Weirs’ remaining herd (170 cows) was being fed and milked at the farm of Greg, Sue and Todd McNamara, of Goolmangar, 15km away.
The McNamaras were off-grid for two days, using a generator to run their dairy. Paul said because the processor’s truck couldn’t access the farm for a few days, the milk from both herds was dumped for five days.
“As of today (mid-March), there are 38 cows still missing and we’ve found 62 dead,” Paul said.
“Our milking plant went under and I still don’t have power.
“The McNamara family offered to take the milkers. Two of us are helping milk their herd and then we milk our herd. We’re feeding them hay and grain every day.
“Hopefully our herd can stay there until we get our dairy ready.”
Donations of hay and silage have been welcomed by the Weir family, to feed the cows they are nursing, and BlazeAid has been in touch.
“All our fences are gone,” Paul said.
“We had a very good harvest season and chopped 550 tonne of sorghum. That and all the pasture silage we made was washed away. The grain in our silos got wet, so that’s ruined too.
“We weren’t ready for a flood two metres higher than previous.”
Paul is sending his heifers and dry cows to agistment he has been offered at the Tablelands.
Rain kept falling across the district, so the paddocks remain waterlogged and put at risk the opportunity to grow winter feed.
“Usually within a couple of days of other floods, we’re able to get machinery onto the paddocks and mow and mulch, so fresh grass can grow,” Paul said.
“We can’t get on and do that yet.”
The cattle yards at the dairy are still standing, and were put to use for pregnancy testing on the day of our interview.
In the herringbone dairy, apart from cleaning, Paul and Matthew will also need to install some new components. They have to find out where they can get those components, given the district’s businesses are closed.
The electricity transformer was inundated and two power poles are lying on the ground, knocked over by debris in the floodwater.
“We’ve done the best clean out we can considering we’ve got no power,” Paul said.
“My generator got water in it, so I haven’t been able to use it.”
Paul and Sharon have a fertiliser spreading business in the industrial zone of Lismore, which they haven’t been able to access yet, but they don’t expect to recover much in the way of assets.
“We’ve got five spreader trucks and other machinery and 300 tonnes of fertiliser in the shed. That industrial estate is normally above flood level,” Paul said.