Warning: This story contains photos of dead, burnt sheep.
Ruffy sheep farmer, Matt Plunkett is trying to stay positive in the midst of death and destruction.
Barely a blade of grass was left after the Longwood fire razed his property on January 8.
An estimated 6,000 of his 12,000 sheep died in the blaze or had to be euthanased.
“Everywhere you look it’s black,” Mr Plunkett said.
“[I’m] not sure how we’ll rebuild, but we’ve got to.”
Half of Matt Plunkett’s sheep flock died. (Supplied: Matt Plunkett)
Mr Plunkett moved sheep and opened gates as the fire was approaching, but it wasn’t enough to save them all.
“A lot of our young sheep got burnt.
“Some mobs we lost all of the sheep and other mobs, for some reason, they saved themselves,” he said.
VFF estimates $20 million in livestock losses alone
Sheep farmers have suffered the biggest livestock losses in the fires with assessments so far showing just under 32,000 sheep have died.
Total livestock deaths have now reached 41,336, including poultry and beef cattle, as well as bees, goats and horses.
Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) president, Brett Hosking said they were ‘huge numbers’.
“It’s probably going to be a good part of the year before we get a real estimate of what the true toll is.”
“I reckon there’s about $20 million worth of livestock lost, but even that doesn’t tell the story,”
he said.
“It’s the years, sometimes decades, sometimes generations of breeding and planning …. gone overnight in a fire.”
Thousands of hectares of farmland have burned in the Victorian fires. (ABC News: Danielle Bonica)
110,000 hectares of farmland blackened
Fires are still burning across the state and it will take time for Agriculture Victoria to be able to assess the damage.
The department’s latest figures show 110,107 hectares of farmland has been burned.
“In addition to livestock, there’s a number of other losses on farms … including things like pasture,” Agriculture Victoria state agency commander Banjo Patterson said.
“There’s obviously a lot of farm machinery, equipment, sheds (and) an enormous amount of fencing.”
Mr Patterson said high value horticulture crops and pine plantations were also destroyed.
Two harvesters burnt in the fire near Skipton. (Supplied: Jack Shady)
‘Young ones want to keep farming’
Mr Plunkett said the reality of his losses haven’t really hit him yet, but he’s already thinking about the future.
“Maybe we’ll even change our mix and go for more cattle,” Mr Plunkett said.
“We’re got a couple of generations on our farm, so we’ve got to stay positive.”
“The young ones want to keep farming, so we’ll do what we can,” he said.
