Sarah Moncrieff said she had been busy responding to numerous calls from dairy farmers since she started three weeks ago and she expected the workload to increase.

Mrs Moncrieff, who has 21 years of experience in financial planning, said the drier than usual year so far was also prompting calls from farmers under financial stress because of big livestock feed bills.

“People are having to pay for feed who have never had to pay for feed,” she said.

Mr Moncrieff, who works for the government-funded Wimmera South West rural financial counselling service, said the service was free and confidential for primary producers.

She has found many of her clients were being proactive in contacting her because they wanted to be as informed as they could be about their financial position and options.

Some of her work has involved making farmers aware of the assistance programs that were available such as the farm household allowance from Centrelink.

The allowance helped eligible farmers put “food on the table” during times of financial hardship, she said.

Mrs Moncrieff’s position is a new one and she joins the Wimmera South West service’s other counsellor, Vince Thorne, who is based in Cobden.

The Wimmera South West service’s executive officer David Stafford said some clients “were going to do it hard” because of the milk price cuts.

“If you are struggling, this is the last thing (the milk price cuts) you need ,” Mr Stafford said.

Mr Stafford said the service had received extra government funding to appoint Mrs Moncrieff.

“We are in a new funding rounding. It started on April 1 and runs until 2019.

“It is fantastic news,” Mr Stafford said.

The extra funding reflected the number of farming enterprises in the Wimmera south west region, he said.

While Mrs Moncrieff was based in Warrnambool, she will travel to clients throughout the region, Mr Stafford said.

People can contact the service on Ph 1300 735578.