Cows Coming Home in Woodburn

Noel Thompson is a beef breeder near Woodburn, NSW who lost 85 cattle in the February 2022 Northern Rivers flood event on two properties at Coraki and Bukkendoon.

Mr Thompson first connected with the Rural Recovery Support Service (RRSS) at a Rural Aid event in Broadwater in June 2022. He was looking for advice on how he could demonstrate his herd loss so that he could use his Special Disaster Grant from the RAA to purchase replacement stock. Our Recovery Officer, Jodie, used the program’s principles of Listen, Learn and Link to provide him with support.

He shared his story of relief to have had one of his lost cows returned, with a two-month-old calf in tow.

During the February 2022 flood event, the cow had travelled downstream 40 kilometres then out to sea, only to come back into land at Lennox Head and make her way to Byron Bay before delivering a healthy calf.

At a time when so many animals were displaced or deceased, Mr Thompson attributes the miraculous return of his cow to honest people who were kind enough to trace her ownership back to him via her NLIS tag (National Livestock Identification System).

For recovery officers it soon became obvious that Mr Thompson’s challenge in proving the existence of his herd pre-flood was a common one for Northern Rivers farmers.

Following the successful return of his cow and calf, Noel was linked with new recovery officer Yvonne.

Together they worked on a learning resource for farmers to not only tell Mr Thompson’s amazing story but to educate other farmers on how important tags can be in post disaster recovery.

The fact sheet, Tracing Lost Livestock after Disasters was the result.

It highlights the importance and value of tagging cattle as soon as possible after they are born or purchased, rather than waiting until they are just about to be transported.

The RRSS guided Mr. Thompson in preparing the necessary documentation, which enabled him to successfully restock his herd.

The good relations Jodie was able to foster resulted in him being very willing to share his experience and knowledge for the purposes of this very important fact sheet, which has been an ongoing disaster resource for livestock farmers across the state.