HOT cross buns might not be the most common thing you think of when you think of fodder, but one St Arnaud man has thought outside the box.
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Hendy Transport co-owner Troy Hendy was at IGA Supermarket’s Melbourne warehouse when he came across 16 tonnes of the almost stale sweet treats.
“They were just going to dump them, so the warehouse manager asked me if I had any ideas of what they could be used for,” he said.
“They were about three weeks from expiration. IGA had already offered them to all the charities and discount supermarkets.
“I called a farmer mate who lives in Cunnumulla in Queenland and asked him if he’d take them for feed. He said yes and so I took a trailer filled with packaged hot cross buns back to St Arnaud with me.”
Mr Hendy enlisted the help of St Arnaud Football Club to unpack the buns.
“It took about 12 hours over three nights to unwrap them all and put them in the trucks,” he said.
“We had the Reserves and Seniors on one night, then the under 12s another night. Three ladies were there all three nights – we wouldn’t have been able to do it without them.”
At the weekend, two Hendy Transport trucks made the journey from St Arnaud to Talbalba Station near Cunnumulla.
“The cattle thought they were very tasty and tucked right in,” he said.
“The farmer was mixing them with other feed, but the buns had a lot of nutrition in them as they are made from cotton seed and grape marc.
“My farmer friend has done a fair few hay runs himself, even though he’s been drought for a decade. So it was great to be able to help him.”
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