Longwarry farmers receive death threats in 'nightmare' fight to save farm

Longwarry farmers have received death threats in a "nightmare" fight to save their farm.

Sharon and Chris Jordan, Longwarry, have been locked in a near 15 year battle with developers, the Baw Baw Shire Council, and Melbourne Water over what they say is their right to farm.

The couple, who ran the Ten-Rose International Simmental stud, alleged a suite of legal challenges, fencing repairs and soil restoration works had cost them approximately $1.5 million.

They've also been unable to sell or show their pedigree Simmental cattle due to disease concerns brought about by water run off, forgoing thousands in lost sales and advertising.

"It's just been a nightmare," Ms Jordan said.

"This has just restricted us from even surviving."

She was a fifth generation farmer and wanted nothing more than to continue raising cattle.

The Jordan's issues began in 2011 when the Mackey Drain, which ran from Longwarry town through their land, flooded.

The waterway hadn't been cleared in 50 years and spilled out across their property, with the case ending up at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT).

Ms Jordan said eventually, after a burst of local media pressure, Melbourne Water cleared two kilometres of the drain.

"We had to replace all pasture, lost half the cattle and they ended up in the abattoir," she said.

"We couldn't get in there, the property was just mud.

"It took us five years to get the health of the soil back."

While the Mackey Drain flooding was controlled, it wasn't long before development across the road created further issues.

The Jordans alleged that a wetland swamp was split into several lots and in 2018, some of these were green lit for residential construction.

As they were in a 'farm zone' the new residents had to provide evidence of planned agricultural use such as running horses or flower growing.

"People buy these with the expectation that they'll put a house on them," Ms Jordan said.

While just two of five lots now had houses built on them, the resulting landscaping had completely reshaped the area's water flow.

The Jordans said soil infilling on the sites drove water onto the road, creating flooding, with the subsequent pressure releasing water, half metre high, onto 40 per cent of their farm.

Ms Jordan said in some parts the water became so deep, and rushed so strongly, that you couldn't risk having cows on it at any time over the winter months.

"You couldn't have cows here because calves would drown," she said.

"They've changed the flow of the water.

"It's rushing really fast and the road could be closed for four days because of the flooding."

Mr Jordan, who had lived on the lot for 60 years, said it was a totally different phenomenon where neighbours simply now didn't care what they caused over the fence.

"Before the infill, because it's a swamp, the water would lay and slowly dissipate," he said.

"Because they've put in all the infilling now, they've made water courses through their properties.

"They're trying to protect themselves from getting flooded but they're pushing all the water on to everybody else."

He said before, neighbours wouldn't go infilling, creating flooding for those across or down the road.

"Now, with these new lots coming up, and people coming from suburbia, they're too busy looking after themselves and they don't think about their neighbours.

"Everything was hunky dory until things started changing with development.

"They don't look over their back fence."

The Jordans claim they challenged the infilling works at every stage and no one seems to care.

Ms Jordan said the conflict had seen her run off the road, receive death threats and strange calls to the house in the middle of the night.

She said the situation equated to a total lack of understanding of farming by non-farmers.

"When you get flooded, you get high aluminium," she said.

"It binds to the grass and it won't grow."

She explained that her 60-head pedigree Simmental herd was closed and operated as Bovine Johne's disease free, something which was crucial for studstock.

"I don't buy cattle from the market or anywhere where it hasn't come off a high Johne's protection area," she said.

"We use AI straws, embryos and we buy from [high protection] studs if we have to buy stock.

"The herd is closed."

There was a commercial herd of Angus cross Friesian beef cattle across the road, where the water flooded into before spilling onto the Jordan's land.

Ms Jordan said Friesian cattle were known to be at risk of carrying Johne's disease.

"We don't know what's in the water and we can't sign documentation for the Department of Agriculture or quarantine for export because of this water that's coming in," she said.

The lack of Johne's clearance had knocked back the Jordan's hopes for the expansion of their operation.

"I was building a market to China, into New Zealand, but we can't touch those markets now," Ms Jordan said.

"All we can do is now, if we're selling vealers or anything like that, they just go through the [commercial] market."

She said she had imported expensive embryos from Germany but there was no point in putting them in as any bull calves born would be "worth nothing".

"I need the Council to look into what's happened here and to stop the water," she insisted.

Mr Jordan said the flooding had ruined their chances of passing on a profitable farm to the next generation.

"We were going to set it up for our grandchildren, that's what it was all for," he said.

"We were having a red hot go."

He was extremely frustrated with what he described as a passing of the book back and forth between Melbourne Water and the Council and said ultimately, the responsibility lied with the Baw Baw Shire.

He criticised what he said was politics over proper planning.

"It's the council, it's as simple as that because they have your planners, educated people, and trained people to make decisions," he said.

However, he alleged these staff were being overruled by elected councillors who didn't have that training.

"There's no thought going into the decisions that the Councils are making," he said.

Ms Jordan said, according to government recommendations, before any development occurs, planners should do upstream and downstream modelling with a water engineer.

"They've none of that and they haven't addressed the flooding," she said.

Baw Baw Shire Council director of planning and development Luke Connell said the organisation took planning considerations in a rural communities very seriously.

"Drainage is one of the many considerations that we need to factor in when planning for the future of our communities," he said.

"Council is continuously looking into areas of flooding concerns in Longwarry."

He said a meeting was recently held with Melbourne Water to work on long-term strategies and maintenance programs to alleviate some of the issues occurring in the area.

"Baw Baw Shire has extensive rural and farming zones which facilitate and protect food producing industries which are an important economic driver for the shire," he said.