Industry is broken

The dairy industry in which he has been a hardworking success story for a quarter of a century is also broken, leaving Mr Dalitz a helpless bystander watching decades of hard work and investment vanish before his eyes.

It has been an uphill battle for the past few years but now his future can be counted by days and you will not need more than your fingers to tick off the time he has left.

Because Mr Dalitz only has enough hay to get his herd through the next 10 days.

Mr Dalitz is not a greedy man, nor is he an idiot, but he has been forced to watch his farm equity halve, go through the heartbreak of generations of breeding quality loaded onto trucks (his herd has shrunk from 300 to 100) and, as the drought worsens, stagger at the soaring water price.

Water which has become a commodity pure and simple — owned by investment funds, other countries and speculators.

And he has absolutely no idea what he is going to do in 10 days — hope for rain or run up the white flag and walk off the farm.

Because it certainly looks like his beloved remaining cows will be gone at the end of the month.

Mr Dalitz’s farm equity was worth more than $1million; now he thinks it would be lucky to be $500000.

Like so many other Australian dairy farmers, he has being brutally beaten by a perfect storm of things out of his control — dry conditions, exorbitant water prices, high input costs and greedy processors.

An industry worth billions of dollars to the economy is on its knees and in crisis.

Australian food security is threatened.

Farmers are leaving the industry in droves, many do not have a choice.

The only thing which could possibly save Mr Dalitz is rain because he cannot afford to pay $620Ml for temporary water.

And there is not a drop of that on the horizon.

‘‘At this point the cows will all be going at the end of the month, sorry girls but I’m spent,’’ Mr Dalitz said in a Facebook post last week.

‘‘Selling the herd will kill me but I just can’t do it any more. I’m broken mentally and physically. My brain and body are exhausted — don’t worry I’m not suicidal, just worn out.’’

Mr Dalitz has had his farm on the market for the last 18 months.

He has cut costs and cut costs again, but the numbers just do not stack up no matter how hard he tries and he cannot magically conjure up thousands of dollars to feed his cows and buy irrigation water.

Nor can he make it rain in a drought.

His cows are on once-a-day milking and there is not much more he can do.

‘‘I used to be a good dairy farmer. Five years ago we had over a $1million worth of equity and, after 25 years of busting my guts, I now have enough to buy a house.

‘‘Being self-employed I have bugger all super but I always thought my cows would be my super. We had 300 cows worth $2000 each, now I have 200 worth $700.

‘‘The last three years our debt has increased $300000.’’

Mr Dalitz said supplying the country with good quality food and doing something he loved has come at a huge mental and financial cost.

‘‘Thank you to the executives at Coles, Woolworths, Saputo, Lion, Fonterra, Parmalat. You greedy b*****ds have destroyed our once great industry just for your greed,’’ he said.

‘‘All we ask for is a fair price for our product. As our costs go up we need our milk price to go up.

‘‘I am over dairy executives saying we understand, but..., you can’t say but if you truly understand the problem. Cut your wages and pay all your own flights and accommodation savings you could than pass on to consumers.’’

It seems Mr Dalitz’s post has hit the spot, it has had more than 600 shares and he has been flooded with hundreds of comments.

‘‘I have even had messages of support from people around the world, which is just incredible and shows what is happening here in Australia, is happening in the dairy industry overseas as well.’’

One NSW dairy farmer said her business could not continue to sustain her losses and unless something drastic happens by June she would be in the same position, while a Canadian farmer said some farmers were tipping milk out.

‘‘Anyone who has a God they believe in, could you please tell him northern Victoria could do with 50mm of rain in the next week... just 5mm this weekend would be good, we’re not greedy,’’ Mr Dalitz said.

Footnote: Mr Dalitz’s post has gone viral and, at the time of going to print, it been shared more than 1300 times.

He has been inundated with offers of help and even had a visit and a chance to sit down and chat personally with Federal Member for Murray Damian Drum.

‘‘Last week I reckon I was a 10 per cent chance of staying in the industry and now I am up around 50 per cent,’’ Mr Dalitz said.

A surprise 8mm of rain on the weekend has helped his pasture and his parents have given him some money to buy some temporary water.

He now has enough feed and hay to get through to the middle of next month.

‘‘I have had a couple of donations of hay and I am learning to accept charity. One girl offered me a bale of lucerne hay and then turned around and offered me a whole paddock that hadn’t grown too well. Her boss said she could cut that and give it to me.’’

Mr Dalitz has had lots of offers of help, including a woman from Tasmania who offered to milk his cows for a week.

‘‘I have put her onto someone else and she is now heading to a farm in Gippsland to help another family,’’ he said.

A mechanic who messaged Mr Dalitz is also coming up to stay for a week and will be servicing tractors.

‘‘Aussie Helpers are supplying oil and filters and he will service 20 tractors. He will also be doing roadworthy’s and Aussie Helpers are going to help with that too,’’ he said.

Mr Dalitz has been humbled by the outpouring of support and was feeling a lot more positive than he was last week.