Mr Dillon has operated farm supply business Dillon’s Dairy Service for the past two decades.

His business services more than 500 farms in the south-west and a large number are struggling to keep up with the costs associated of running their operations.

Mr Dillon said he was extremely concerned about the future of the industry and the state of mind of the farmers struggling to get by.

“I use our trading terms as a barometer on the way things are travelling in the dairy industry,” he said.

“Normally in a typical month we would have around $10,000 owed to us past 90 days. At the moment we have over $300,000 owing.”

Mr Dillon said the farmers felt terrible they owed him money.

“These are farms that have traditionally been excellent payers,” he said.

“They want to pay. They have called me, in tears, apologising for not being able to make some kind of payment.”

Mr Dillon said he would continue to offer credit to his customers, because he knew they were doing it tough.

“They are good people,” he said. “They are in a position – through no real fault of their own – of increasing spiralling debt.”

Mr Dillon said in addition to struggling to pay bills, this also meant farmers were unable to plan for the future.

He said the industry was at crisis point five or six years ago and he was worried that was where it was headed. 

Mr Dillon said he believed milk factories were paying farmers what they could, but the rising price of electricity and feed was creating a perfect storm.

“I was recently talking to a third generation farmer and he asked me ‘what have I done wrong?’ I start to choke up now thinking about it. I told him ‘no mate, you haven’t done anything wrong, you’ve done everything right but the industry, in a way, has turned its back on you.’

“This is quite serious shit,” Mr Dillon said.

“Next time you see a dairy farmer, give them a hug and thank them. They deserve better.”

WINSLOW farmer Jock O’Keefe has spoken to a number of people who fear another industry crisis is just around the corner.

The dairy farmer and Farmer Power member said a hot summer had forced a number of property owners to resow paddocks and fork out extra money to buy feed.

He said on top of that a number of south-west dairy farmers had lost property and stock in the St Patrick’s Day bushfires. “Things were really bad five years ago and I’ve spoken to a few farmers who have said it’s much worse – especially those farmers who have been affected by the fires,” Mr O’Keefe said.

“You expect a bad year every now and then but we’ve had too many.”

Mr O’Keefe said he was not surprised some dairy farmers were struggling to pay their bills. 

“We’ve had it tough for too long,” he said. 

Mr O’Keefe said he had made the decision to downsize due to dwindling profits.

“Personally I’m reducing my numbers, I’m winding down,” he said.

“A few years ago we milked 1000 cows and this year we milk 650 at the most – next year we’re planning to go back below 500.” 

Mr O’Keefe said dairy farmers usually worked 12-14 hours a day, seven days a week, often for little profit.

A recent National Dairy Farmer Survey revealed 28 per cent of farmers in the south-west were considering leaving the industry.

This figure was the highest for dairy regions surveyed throughout Australia.

The survey found the proportion of farmers nationally making plans to leave the industry had doubled.

In the south-west, 16 per cent of those surveyed said they were in a winding down phase compared to the 11 per cent nationally.