Farmers have suffered significant livestock losses and agricultural damage from bushfires across south eastern NSW, though the full scale of the impacts are expected to take several days to emerge.
The NSW Department of Primary Industries and Local Land Services are providing assistance to fire affected landholders with emergency fodder and water, animal care, livestock assessment, and where necessary stock euthanasia and burial.
Producers can report stock losses and infrastructure damage, or request animal assessment, or emergency fodder or water for stock, by calling the Agricultural and Animal Services Hotline on 1800 814 647.
People without phone access can send a direct message via the NSW DPI Facebook page.
"Limited access to firegrounds and loss of power and phones in the area mean the full picture of losses and damage will take some time to emerge," said State Incident Controller Karen Roberts.
"However stock losses as a result of fires in south-east NSW since Christmas have been high, with approximately 2800 stock reported killed in the fires or euthanised to date."
Ms Roberts said NSW DPI, Local Land Services and partner agencies work together to support farmers and animal managers in an emergency.
"Given the scale of the fires and the areas they have impacted we expect the number of stock reported to have died or been injured to rise as landholders and our own field assessment teams are able to access properties and report damage," she said.
"I would urge people whose stock and properties have been affected to register via the hotline or the Facebook page so that we can allocate resources to help them deal with what are going to be very significant impacts."
This season, approximately 3,900 head of livestock have been euthanised or confirmed deceased in bushfires across NSW.
This number includes approximately 700 stock killed or euthanised as a result of fires in the Northern Tablelands, North Coast and Hunter areas before Christmas.
Approximately 400 stock were also killed or euthanised as a result of fires around the Lithgow and Bathurst areas over the Christmas and New Year period.
Keep updated
- Bush fires - Current situation
