Nothing is going to stop Wade Francis from dairying - not even Mother Nature's relentless rain.
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Since Christmas it has rained nearly every day, with more than 1100 millimetres falling on his property at Kempsey.
His pasture is so wet it's become a bog pit, so he's come up with an innovative idea to keep his cattle dry.
Mr Francis is using sport gym mats in his dairy yard for the cattle to have somewhere to escape the mud.
"Mum came up with the idea as we had some sports mats at home, so I bought 16 over and the cows loved it so I bought another 60," said Mr Francis (who is featured on our cover).
"I did it for animal welfare so the cows were not laying in mud and water."
He hoses the mats down more than three times a day to keep them clean.
Mr Francis purchased his dairy two years ago and since then there has been one-in-a-100-year flood recorded in 2021, which was followed by flooding this year and consistent rain.
His farm had a reprieve late last year with a good spring, but by Christmas that all changed and the rain started again.
The days start sunny but then a shower of rain hits in the afternoon keeping it wet.
"It's rained every day," Mr Francis said.
In February, he had 118 cattle but is now down to 54.
This means his milk production is down 50 per cent.
He managed to plant $15,000 worth of seed but now it's been washed away.
"It wasn't too bad in February after the floods but it's been consistent ever since and won't dry out so I haven't been able to get any winter feed in," he said.
"This wet weather has been worse than a flood because it's been so relentless.
"I will just have to keep buying feed in because I want to stay in the industry."
Just on Sunday the region recorded another 120mm.
When asked how he keeps going, Mr Francis said: "I have put everything I have into this and will keep pouring money into it as long as I have to for my animals".
He has been able to use the flood grants to purchase feed, which will last up to four months.
"We are a pasture-based farm but you can't put cows on pasture when everything is waterlogged," he said.
Despite all the obstacles Mr Francis has overcome since starting his dairy, he says there was a silver lining.
A new price rise was announced days ago with his processor Lactalis for the next financial year, rising from 72 cents a litre to 81c/L.
"Our industry can overcome anything ... the biggest problem with dairy is we don't have the next generations coming through, it costs too much money to start," he said.
"But I'm passionate and I'm not going to stop."
