After a dry season in the region, many farmers are faced with depleted water storages – a concern with much of the fire season to come.
Mafeking farmer Tom Guthrie, who also owns Grampians Estate winery, lost 90 per cent of his property’s grazing area to the fire and about 20 kilometres of fencing, but was focused on the positives.
“There’s good news and bad news. The good news is we lost no sheep. We run 5500 sheep and we lost no sheep. We have three houses on the property and we saved all of those. We saved our Grampians Estate winery and our vineyard. And I saved my wife, so all the important things were saved,” he said “I lived through the 2006 bushfire which impacted pretty heavily on both us and a lot of our neighbours – in that fire there were a lot of sheep casualties.
“This time round I think the warnings were a lot better – the forecast, the communication, we had a lot more support from the firefighting agencies, fire management, the CFA, it was a much more cohesive effort ... all those things helped it.”
Landowners in Mafeking faced an onslaught of emergency warnings as the district came under serious threat on several occasions.
On Boxing Day, a weather station on the Guthrie’s property showed maximum gusts of 92 kilometres an hour, with the wind sitting at 50 to 60 kilometres most of the day. “Us and our neighbours had a lot better result at the end of a pretty awful day on Boxing Day ... it was a pretty terrible day for that fire to come out of the park,” Mr Guthrie said.
He could not speak highly enough of fire fighters who put in fire breaks to protect his house and vineyard.
“By the time Boxing Day came, they were stretched over a large area,” he said.
“We were inundated about six days before on the 20th of December. It came over and got the edge of the property when the wind was blowing south ... then it came back from the north, and got us from the other side.
“Even on Sunday – 10 days after Boxing Day – we had flare ups and just little embers burning, and probably an acre, and we haven’t got many acres left, but an acre of grass burnt.”
“One of Grampians Estate’s two vineyards is at the Guthrie’s Mafeking property, producing just under half the winery’s total grapes.
Although it survived, it is currently being tested for smoke taint – which will mean the winery cannot produce a Chardonnay or its premium Streeton Reserve Shiraz this year.
“ The likelihood is that all the grapes in the vineyard will just have to not be picked, but we’ve still got the vineyard – you just keep looking at the positives and don’t worry too much about the negatives,” Mr Guthrie said.
He said it was the ‘little things that people don’t think of’ during and after a fire that added to the list of tasks and mental load – losing power for four days, Telstra landlines being cut, Poly Pipe melting, and trees over fences and roads.
While the Guthries have moved their stock to agistment for four months to concentrate on their land recovery, they also have wine to bottle.
“One of the big impacts for the region is when you have fire in the Grampians, a lot of people just cancel their holidays, so there are a lot of business impacted,” he said.
“Our cellar door at Great Western, numbers have been well down, as expected.
“When Halls Gap opens and it’s back to business, we just encourage people to visit local establishments, including cellar doors and drink local wine. It’s very important in times like this to support the local economy.”
Victorian Agricultural Minister Ros Spence visited the Willaura area last week, joined by Victorian Farmers Federation representatives including new president Brett Hosking.
Mr Hosking praised the work of local farmers who took early action well before the bushfires took hold.
“Early indications suggest widespread stock losses have been kept to a minimum, with the majority of farm impacts being shed losses, destroyed fencing and burnt pastures,” he said.
“I want to stress impact assessments are still underway, but at this stage it looks as though communities have heeded the warnings and prepared in the days before the worst fire conditions arrived.
“I would like to extend a huge thank you to the emergency services helping to keep our communities safe and the farmers who took measures to prepare their farms before the fire arrived.
“For those who have been impacted it’s devastating and we’re continuing to work with the government to ensure support gets to those who need it.”
With many farmers in desperate need of hay for their livestock, Ararat Rural City Council and ACE Radio are coordinating a hay drive.
Anyone wishing to donate hay can contact Chandra at the council on 5355 0980.