00:00Winter has come to the Wimmera, but with it, more blue skies.
00:15And that means another day of hand-feeding sheep for Clayton Caldo.
00:21The ewes, with lambs at foot, come running,
00:25recognising the ute that's been bringing them feed for the past six months.
00:31The white land crews, they know what...
00:34Well, they can see the hay on the back too.
00:36You can start it whenever you want.
00:41Here on this farmland near Edenhope,
00:43only about 50 millimetres of rain have fallen for the year.
00:46That means dams are dry and pastures are non-existent.
00:50Farmers are flat out feeding livestock and selling off animals,
00:54all the while hoping for rain.
00:56The whole western Victoria itself is pretty bad, real bad.
01:02Clayton Caldo has known tough times.
01:05In 2016, his wife Sophie died from breast cancer.
01:09She was 42.
01:10Yeah, pretty tough going.
01:13It's...
01:14You wouldn't wish any family to go through that,
01:15especially when you've got four kids.
01:17He doesn't know what the future holds for his children.
01:20But farming is a tough sell in a drought.
01:23Yeah, we've got a bit of a plan, but...
01:26Yeah, you get times like this tough, why would you want to do it?
01:30Clayton Caldo received a $5,000 state government drought relief grant last year.
01:36His neighbour, Paul MacDonald, got one too.
01:44But others missed out, because they lived in a local government area that wasn't covered.
01:50It's like playing the game, pin the tail on a donkey.
01:53It was just, if you were in that postcode, you were lucky.
01:57Duncan Barber was one of the unlucky ones.
02:03His farm at Metcalfe, in central Victoria, got no relief,
02:08despite the soaring cost of keeping his flock alive.
02:12At the moment, we're spending $15,000 on a load of grain just to feed the sheep.
02:17Last week, the state government announced it would extend its drought relief to the entire state.
02:23But Duncan Barber says the dollar-for-dollar grants on offer won't bring any respite.
02:30The money would be far better off spent on a rebate on grain,
02:33a rebate on transport costs, a rebate on power.
02:40It's not just on the land this drought is being felt.
02:46Edenhope is a town fuelled by farming.
02:49So, when farmers aren't making any money, community groups and businesses hurt as well.
02:54From the rural supplies, to the local takeaway.
03:01G'day, Angus Hurley from the ABC.
03:03How are you today, mate?
03:04Nick Brambert runs the local takeaway.
03:07It is an excellent community, I can assure you on that one.
03:10The community together always stays together.
03:12But he says fewer people are coming to town.
03:16When there's no water around, the farmers are going to hold back spending.
03:20That's the hardest thing, is getting them here and to give up their time when it's so valuable.
03:25Liz Keeley can see the value in farmers getting together at the footy club to talk through their issues.
03:31And as a local accountant, she knows those issues run deep.
03:36I wouldn't say doom and gloom, but I would be saying conservative and tight.
03:42And not knowing when this drought is going to break is a big concern of theirs.
03:48Local outreach worker Murray McGuinness says farmers are notorious for not taking time to maintain their mental health.
03:56With regional suicide rates almost 50% higher than in the city.
04:01They find it difficult to leave their farms.
04:04They're isolating themselves because they're feeding or they're doing whatever they need to do.
04:10And they're not taking that time out.
04:13But there's one thing everyone in Eden Hope agrees on.
04:17A little bit of rain wouldn't go astray.
04:20So look, hopefully at the end of the week they forecast us we might get 10 maybe plus mil, which would be good.
04:26And if they can just keep their farms ticking along until the drought breaks, the value of their livestock has never been higher.
04:35On the flip side of that, we're seeing record meat prices.
04:39And I just hope for their sake that they get this rain and get the feed.
04:43And they should be in for good times.
04:45We'll just take each day as it comes now and keep feeding these girls and keep them ticking over with their lambs.
04:52But until he hears raindrops on the roof, there'll be no breathing easy for Clayton Calder.
04:58Anyway, that's the way it is.
05:00The rapture is kind of the one where you'll have fun.
05:02And I want the porquerateado in this cube.
05:10It couldn't even walk into the city.
05:17So that's the way you leave.
05:19And if you buy them down here, you can Noble Angle32 figure for yourself.
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