The sight of 180 trucks all stacked with hay driving for two days through NSW would be something to behold.
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Last weekend the convoy was heading straight for the drought-stricken town of Armidale.
Each year the Burrumbuttock hay run unites the farming and transport community to deliver hay to farmers in need.
This year 187 trucks drove into Armidale, which according to the Bureau of Meteorology had its driest year on record in 2019, recording 315.2 mm of rain, less than half the annual average of 742.9 mm.
The town has only 398 days of water left in the city’s dam and is under level five water restrictions, the highest there is.
Six trucks carrying 25 bales of hay set off from Rochester last Thursday night, heading north to join others from around Australia — all in support of one drought-stricken town.
Brooke Nichol from Nichol Trading has participated for the past five years and this is the most trucks they have brought together so far.
Brooke has two semi-trailers going, joined by one each from Ward Bros Earthmoving, Weeks Farms in Rochester, Fuzztrans from Rushworth and GH Holmberg and Sons from Elmore.
The Elmore Charity Ball committee has donated $5200 for fuel, and Justin Cleary from Rochester Caltex has also contributed.
President of Elmore Charity Ball committee Tom Harney said they looked for opportunities to put money back into the community.
“It’s just a good cause and our local farmers are willing to donate, which is great,” he said.
The hay is generously donated by 25 farmers in the area.
Brooke said they accepted three to six bales from each farmer so it would not be too much of an individual burden, and emphasised how thankful the group was for people’s generosity.
“Three bales are worth around $500 and that’s a big enough donation for one person,” he said.
The group travelled 1000 km over two days, after meeting with the rest of the convoy at Walbundrie football oval before starting the long drive north.
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