Many Raglan farmers hope to bounce back from last week's bushfires as fodder donations flood in.
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Sheep farmer David Troup and family lost 14 kilometres of boundary fencing, 9km of internal fencing and 80 per cent of their pasture to the flames.
The bushfire burned throughout the afternoon and night of Thursday, February 22, and restarted several times over the week that followed.
While quick action and the help of neighbours helped save all except 60-70 of his 2,000 sheep, Mr Troup still estimated the cost of the bushfire damage at $250,000.
However, he was adamant that not all had been lost and that the support of neighbours and fellow farmers would help him to recover.
In an interview at the fire site with Stock & Land, Mr Troup said he had received donations of more than 200 bales from farmers near Ballarat, Lexton and the Wimmera.
Since the fire, some 800 of his lambs were also sent to agistment to friends who had offered up their land, including some at Skipton.
"All just free agistment," Mr Troup said.
"It's just stubble they're all eating."
The Raglan farmer said having the sheep taken elsewhere made it easier for him to rebuild his 400 hectare operation.
"I can send stock away on agistment, and I don't have to feed them, water them, look after them or maintain them," he said.
"It drops all my workload off.
"That means if I drop all my workload off, I can do the jobs around here that get the farm back into production.
"Whereas if I try to do everything, keep the sheep here, I can't do everything."
Mr Troup stayed on his property to protect his home and animals as the bushfire passed through.
"I stayed because I was prepared," he said.
"I got all stock into the laneway, the sheep yards, and I got up here to the home farm and put all the sprinklers around the house, around the back of the shearing shed.
"I evacuated my mother and then I went home and put the sprinklers on around my house, filled the spouts with water and then we just waited.
"Two of my friends with farm fire units, they turned up just out of dumb luck and they protected my house so between those men and the County Fire Authority (CFA), they saved all the property - all the houses and infrastructure, not the fences."
Jeanette Troup, David's 82 year old mother, had lived at the farm in Raglan for more than 60 years.
She had never seen a bushfire at the property and was evacuated to Beaufort before the flames arrived.
"One minute past 12 on Thursday morning, I had the basket with the sheets out at the line, and I thought 'it's not too bad a day'," Ms Troup said.
"The phone rang and it was my neighbour and he said 'Janette, there's a fire behind the mountain, you've got to get out'.
"I lifted my eyes up and right there in that hollow there, the smoke was just booming up.
"When I looked behind me when I went down the road, I took a photo, because I didn't know what was going to be here when I got home."
Having returned to her home last week to find her house still standing, Ms Troup, along with the entire family remained in good spirits.
Mr Troup said the CFA had been very efficient in fighting the fire.
"It was probably just luck because they had the Pomonal fire and all the crews from Melbourne and surrounds were sitting up at Pomonal in the CFA headquarters," he said.
"We had so many fire crews up in Pomonal that they were here in no time.
"I had a fire down here yesterday on the creek and within four minutes there were choppers here."
However, Mr Troup said the task ahead for rebuilding his farm wouldn't be simple.
"A lot of it is in heavy bush country, so steep country," he said.
"We need to get [the fencing] done before the winter comes because it gets too wet to track around with machines.
"We've probably got to get it done reasonably quick."
The Raglan farmer could not emphasise how important the community's assistance had been and said it was the aftermath of the fire where the help was really needed.
