Drought-stricken farmer celebrates first rain by running across field naked

Farmers right across Australia have been suffering one of the worst droughts in decades over the last few months, with many sharing images of their dead and starving livestock – drawing millions of dollars in donations from the public.

However this weekend, at long last, the first rain in months hit some rural parts of NSW. Now, one farmer has gone viral on social media after sprinting across his rain-soaked field completely naked in celebration.

Min Coleman filmed her partner Glen Bloink jumping around in the rain at their Minore farm, before throwing his hat in the air and waving his arms in happiness.

With water streaming down around him, Glen doesn’t appear phased by the camera and happily shouts out as he runs around.

While the caption on the video has since been removed as more and more people congratulate the pair and share their footage, Min reportedly originally wrote: “It’s great to be able to share our celebration of the most precious things in life.”

Meanwhile, she can be heard joking in the video, “now that’s one naked farmer”.

Minore is a small country town around 15km out of Dubbo in Central NSW. It, like many other towns in the area, has had little to no rainfall for almost a year. However, this weekend saw more than 20mm of rain in parts of the state.

Read more: The Queen offers heartfelt support to drought-stricken Aussie farmers

The footage has been shared more than 36,000 times and been viewed by more than 1.8million people. One fellow Facebook user commented: “God I felt like doing it when it rained for the first time in a long time yesterday. And I live in Maitland.”

Another added: “Tell Glen this has gone absolutely berserk!” and one wrote: “Haha classic. Good onya mate. Happy for yous.”

As news of the devastating drought has spread across Australia over the last few weeks, millions of donations from the public have been made through platforms such as Buy a Bale, Rural Aid and Fiver for a Farmer.

Read more: ‘Dry spring and tough summer’: Turnbull’s package to help struggling farmers

For New South Wales, it has been the worst drought since 1965. Australia’s biggest companies have made much of their own multi-million-dollar corporate donations to provide hay to farmers in need, while Australian music icon John Farnham has pledged to headline a drought relief concert later this year.

At the end of July, the New South Wales government announced an additional $500 million in assistance for drought-affected farmers.

Are you or anyone you know a farmer struggling with the recent drought? What do you think of this video?