Wine waste offered to hungry cows

A wine industry processor in southern NSW has thrown a lifeline to Victorian farmers struggling to source feed this winter.

This vintage, Tarac Technologies has produced surplus grape marc, the skins and seeds of wine grapes after they've been distilled to remove the chemicals and alcohol.

Victorian Farmers Federation president Peter Tuohey hopes farmers, particularly dairy, can take advantage of the 42,000 tonnes of free supplementary feed.

"Particularly the farmers in the south-west, they're really struggling to find hay supplies and it is really expensive and the other problem they have is the cartage bill, to wherever they get it from, costs them quite a bit of money.

"So this will hopefully spread the ration a bit further and maintain their stock."

The VFF is lobbying the Victorian Government to cover half the costs of trucking the free grape marc from the Griffith distillery to Victorian farms.

He says carting the marc from Griffith could cost $60 to $70 a tonne.

Source: ABC Rural News, 23 July 2013