Three South West dairy farmers who dumped thousands of litres of milk after their contracts with Brownes ended have been given a short term fix: truck milk over east.
WAFarmers said it's organising milk shipments to the eastern states from the out-of-contract dairy farmers to prevent the dumping of their unwanted milk as they work out what to do next.
Earlier this week Harvey dairy farmer Dale Hanks and fellow farmers Graham Manning and Tony Ferrano tipped out thousands of litres of milk after a last gasp attempt to keep deliveries to Brownes going failed.
The massive milk dump came after Brownes informed the trio in May it would no longer pick up milk from their farms from October 1 due to problems with global oversupply.
WAFarmers Dairy Section President Michael Partridge said sending the trio's milk over east is only a short-term arrangement to buy them more time to find a better solution.
"Their only option at the moment is to pour the milk down the drain, so this temporary arrangement will prevent milk wastage which, we can all agree, is better than seeing their hard work being poured down the drain," he said.
"This temporary arrangement is funded by the WAFarmers Dairy Council who considered it to be a necessary measure to support these farmers as they continue to manage their options.
"The best way for the general public to help the industry right now is to buy WAFarmersFirst Milk
"By purchasing the milk, consumers can contribute towards the temporary arrangement and thus help the farmers during the transitional period."
Mr Hanks warned the milk dump he and his peers conducted won't be the last WA sees - he estimates there are at least six more farmers facing the chop from major milk producers in the coming months.
"I'm 46, third generation farmer, I should have 15 years of good production ahead of me, but this just shouldn't have happened."
"It's just a disgrace, throwing three good businesses under the bus - it shows that the WA dairy industry is broken."
