Aussie Hay Runners make special delivery to Wauchope

With a police escort, Aussie Hay Runners made their way to the Wauchope Showgrounds with over 20 trucks carrying hay for local livestock on Friday, October 27.

Wauchope Rural Centre owner Lisa Baker had received a phone call from the Aussie Hay Runners weeks earlier asking to coordinate the hay run.

"We got a random phone call out of the blue and said oh yeah we can do that'," she said.

Ms Baker had never organised a hay run before.

Over the coming weeks, Ms Baker and Sandra Hanson from the store were inundated with calls.

"We got over 300 people [calling] and we probably helped 150 of them on Saturday (October 28)," Ms Baker said.

"Some people had 200 head, some people had eight head,

"We just allocated out how many heads they had and spread it around as best we could."

The Aussie Hay Runners work with the Rural Assistance Authority (RAA) NSW to find destinations in need of hay, gather donations from Victorians farmers then send trucks onto the road to deliver the livestock feed.

"Without [the RAA] these hay runs wouldn't exist," Aussie Hay Runners founder Linda Widdup said.

The streets of Wauchope were filled with welcome messages and waving families as the special envoy made it's way through town.

The trucks unloaded with the hay bales were delivered or handed out during previously arranged time slots on Saturday, October 28.

Ms Widdup said her truck drivers were really taken aback by the welcome they received in Wauchope on the weekend.

"They said that out of all the runs that they've done, that was the most welcoming...they've ever been through," she said.

"A few of them said it almost made them tear up.

"They were absolutely thrilled."

Ms Baker said that everyone was really happy to receive the hay.

"It's gotten very very dry," she said.

"They've got no feed because there's been no rain so they've all been having to buy hay to feed the cattle and it costs a lot of money."

Dry weather has been forecast after an El Nino weather event was declared for this year.

The dry weather has raised concerns for drought and the impact it will have on farmers.

"It doesn't look like there's any end in sight," Ms Baker said.

But the cause was something the whole community jumped on board to help with the Wauchope Lions Club feeding the truck drivers, and locals volunteering their time to help deliver bales.

"Trucks unloaded, people came in... and everything went really smoothly," Ms Baker said.

"We've had the shop for 26 years so all the people you've helped are all the people you know."

Another delivery of hay bales is expected to arrive again to Wauchope on Friday, October 10.

Ms Baker, who already had a long list of livestock owners seeking feed, was ready for her second hay run.

"The next one will go a bit smoother," she said.

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