27/04/2025
Definitely the hardest year any of us have had for a while 😥
I'm having to reduce my numbers drastically and am at this time unable to continue as a rehomer, the costs are just too high
I CRIED TODAY…..
Today wasn’t really any different to most of the days lately but today it really got to me. Our district is in the middle of the dryest season we have seen in our twenty five years here. Last February, we had the bushfires come through our beautiful sanctuary and we lost more than 3km of fencing and - even more importantly as it turned out – about 50% of our pasture. The fires were followed by the dryest Autumn we have ever seen here, resulting in no Autumn break (the wonderful grass that grows when it starts to rain before the ground gets too cold). Following on from that, we had our dryest winter ever! For the first time ever, my gumboots stayed warm in the laundry all winter. I didn’t wear them once! Spring continued on with the trend of dry and here we are.
The rounds of hay which we used to pay $50 for are now costing us close to $200 – IF we can get them. Small squares of pasture hay have gone from about $8 to $20 each. We also feed lucerne hay to pregnant, growing and training Brumbies. In a normal year, we spend about $1000 per month on hay. So far this year, we have spent just over $21,000 on hay to feed our Brumbies!! TWENTY ONE THOUSAND. DOLLARS! Its terrifying!
This week, we got some great Karma when the incredible Libby from Follyfoot rescue donated just over $4000 to us. This felt like great Karma as in 2020 when the bushfires ripped through the Shoalhaven area in NSW, we took on some Kosciuszko Brumbies to help Follyfoot. We didn’t expect anything in return. Libbys incredible donation has enabled us to source and pay for 50 rolls of hay at a cost of $6500. We are currently trying to find someone who can deliver them here for us.
This delivery will bring our hay spend for 2025 to $28,000 – which doesn’t include delivery for the rounds!
Then today I learned that our wonderful (small square) Lucerne hay supplier has run out of lucerne. That doesn’t seem like much but I guess it was the straw that broke the camels back. I cried for ten minutes and then another three times as I told our committee. It’s just all a LOT.
I’m currently spending more of each week than I’d care to admit trying to source hay, figuring out how to pay for it and how to transport it. We have been working to find lots of Brumby homes but the fact is that we have many Brumbies who we consider permanent residents. For so many different reasons, from health issues to age and more, these Brumbies are not suitable for rehoming. We have taken in many Brumbies also this year for owners who are unable to afford to feed them. We want to take in more as they’re being removed from the wild in record numbers but how in earth CAN we?
I wish that rescue was just about rescuing these incredible Brumbies and loving them but there is so much more to it than that. Real rescue is accountable. Real rescue is for as long as is needed whether that be for life or until they find a forever home. Real rescue is always being ready to take them back if needed. Heartbreakingly, real rescue is also about saying ‘No’ to new arrivals – even when we know it is us or the knackery. Real rescue is losing sleep trying to figure out how to come up with money to pay for more hay and the care that our beautiful Brumbies need.
Things could be worse. I have friends who run large animal rescues who have had to enact emergency euthanasia lists as they simply can’t afford or source hay this year! I can’t even imagine having to draw up that list and carry out that final act. The first time a wise woman told me that ‘Euthanasia is a valid welfare outcome’ I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it at all. She’s right though. I pray we don’t get to that point but we NEED rain!
I’m not complaining. We chose this road – we didn’t expect years like this but we’re determined to survive them! I have started to type up something along the lines of this post so many times but it feels so raw, so ugly, I didn’t want to write it down; didn’t want to share it. Today was a lot though and I just wanted to let you all know where we are at.
If you know folk ‘in Rescue’, please reach out to them. You may be able to donate the cost of a coffee, you may be able to help out at the rescue. You might even just be able to make them feel less alone in a pretty lonely year.
That’s about it – this post isn’t really to ask for anything… I don’t even know why I am writing it. I’ve thought a lot about it though and I’m one of those folk who likes to write things down to work through them. If I was sane, maybe reading through this would make me give up but most of you know me better than that by now.
Sending much love to all of you who are struggling this year. We see you.
Photo of Bridie and her beloved Brumby VBA Braveheart at EQUITANA 2024
