Mrs Hoolihan and her husband look after their three properties full-time with their adult children coming to help them out occasionally. 

“It has been hard, especially with suppliers being so unreliable, sometimes they just can’t deliver out here so we can’t get supplies,” she said. 

The quality of the feed has also been a disappointment and, despite buying hay from South Australia, the quality doesn’t seem to be improving. 

“Sheep are fussy, if the quality isn’t there they just won’t eat it, and that’s hard because the price you are paying to get it here is ridiculous,” she said. 

Travelling 200 kilometres each day to feed the animals on all three properties has taken its toll on the health of both Mrs Hoolihan and her husband. 

“You just wake up and think, ‘Can I do this again?’” she said. 

To help drought affected farmers in the local area such as the Hoolihans, St George Bank Lithgow branch manager Stacey Cameron has partnered with Buy a Bale.

On Thursday, August 23 Mrs Cameron presented three farmers with $500 worth of vouchers to spend on whatever they needed during these trying times. 

Mrs Hoolihan was overwhelmed when presented with the money, claiming she didn’t deserve it any more than other struggling farmers. 

While Mrs Hoolihan hoped for rain she knew it would take a lot more than that to replenish what they have already lost. 

“We have stopped counting what we have lost, we can’t help the cattle when they are dead,” she said. 

Wanting to do the humane thing for their animals, the couple has struggled through. 

“You have to weigh up [selling stock] because you can’t just decide to sell them when it could potentially rain in a week, but then by the time you have waited it is beyond the point of no return.

“We also can’t sell the sheep now because they aren’t fit enough to be sold, they wouldn’t take the stress,” she said.  ​

Mrs Hoolihan said that it felt nice to know other people cared about what you were going through and you weren’t going through it alone. 

“This is our life, this is all we’ve ever done so I know we will get through it again, we have to,” she said. 

Bank manager Stacey Cameron said she wanted to do a little something for people struggling.

“I got in contact with Buy a Bale because they haven’t been able to deliver hay out this way and so they gave me the names of some struggling farmers in my area who we could help,” she said. 

Mrs Cameron said if they needed help they could reach out. 

Read more: 

The vouchers were also given to Matt Ryan and Braydon Gilmore, who travelled from Oberon to receive the vouchers.

Mr Gilmore’s sister put their names forward to Buy a Bale for farmers that were struggling and needed help. 

“I only found out yesterday that my sister put my family’s name forward but I think I speak for everyone when I say that farmers don’t tend to reach out for help and I think with my sister saw from an outside view that we needed help,” he said. 

Mr Gilmore said that any amount of money was appreciated because it would go a long way with the family. 

“It’s the little things we go without and I don’t want the kids to miss out, so it’ll be a good day to go home today,” he said.