Australia-Farmers counting the cost of bush fires.

FARMERS have begun counting their losses in the Victorian bushfires, with paddocks burned and thousands of farm animals having fallen prey to the flames.

Victorian Farmers Federation’s president Simon Ramsay says teams are still assessing stock losses .. but figures are expected to be in the tens of thousands.

At last count more than 3030 sheep and almost 2500 beef cattle are reported dead or missing.

About 175 dairy cattle were also lost or missing, however assessment teams are yet to enter some areas affected by bushfires so the losses are expected to rise.

About 220 hectares of field crops, 24,117 hectares of grazing pasture and 16,725 tonnes of hay were also destroyed in the fires.

Judy Clements counts herself as one of the lucky ones.

The Whittlesea farmer lost about 180 acres of a 200 acre property but feels fortunate to have saved their beef cattle from the catastrophic fires which swept across the area north of Melbourne on Saturday.

"We all know people and friends who are not here to talk about it," she said.

"Our farm loss is a loss, but the greater loss is that loss which can never be retrieved," she said.

"People haven’t survived and stock haven’t survived."

Ms Clements, the president of the Whittlesea branch of the Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF), has been part of the relief effort helping to distribute fodder to farmers in need.

She said donations of livestock feed have been arriving from all over the country, including from farmers in drought-stricken areas.

VFF president Simon Ramsay said about 350 semi-trailers were on the road every day distributing about 20,000 tonnes of fodder to farmers affected by the bushfires.

He said teams were still assessing stock losses but figures were expected to be in the "tens of thousands".

At last count, more than 3,030 sheep and almost 2,500 beef cattle were reported dead or missing, according to figures compiled by the Department of Primary Industries.

A large amount of farming infrastructure including sheds, fences, outbuildings and houses were also razed in the fire.

Almost 2,000 houses have now been confirmed lost in the bushfires raging in Victorian since last Saturday.

The official death tolls stands at 181 and this figure has not been updated since Tuesday. It is expected to continue rising.

Mr Ramsay said the horticulture and viticulture industries would be among the hardest hit, as the loss of permanent plantings could leave producers without an income for five or six years.

Meanwhile, the dairy industry in Gippsland is understood to have been hit hard by fires in those areas.

"The dairy industry has lost dairy sheds, there’s cows that have burnt teats, there’s now mastitis (udder infection) running amok through South Gippsland," Mr Ramsay said.

"My understanding is they’re throwing the milk away in certain parts, just putting it down the drain," he said.