Generosity rolls in for charity hay bale

A Perth business has paid a staggering sum for a bale of hay to help farmers devastated by bushfires in Yarloop, Waroona and Harvey in January.

Western Meat Packers Group chief executive Andrew Fuda made the winning $30,000 bid at a charity auction in Harvey on March 18.

Mr Fuda said the hay bale would usually fetch $88 and the $30,000 price tag was probably a world record.

“I think Harvey have confirmed it as a world record with Guinness World Records,” he said.

Mr Fuda was born and raised in Harvey and knew many of the affected farmers.

“That made it a special cause for me, but the company also wanted to show our support because we source a lot of cattle from that region,” he said.

“We also lost our entire plant in a day to fire in 2009, so we understand how tragic fire can be.”

The hay was among the last to be baled by Myalup farmers Graham and Mia Rose before the fire forced them to flee.

The pricey package will travel through Albany on its way to a Borden feedlot, where it will be fed to steers for export to Japan.

“We believe the beef from those animals to be fed the world-record priced hay will be highly sought after by very discerning Japanese consumers, who may even be able to detect the smoky flavours infused from ancient WA jarrah, red gum and peppermint trees,” Mr Fuda said.