Australia-Farmers count the cost of the bush fires.

AUSTRALIA-FARMERS COUNT THE COST OF WORSE BUSH FIRES IN HISTORY.

Property owners on the edge of Bunyip State Forest are counting the cost of the fires that destroyed houses, razed farmland and killed their livestock.

Hundreds of head of cattle were left without food, leaving farmers desperate to transport them out of the region after a late wind change sent fires raging through the valley south of the national park, the Herald Sun reports.

While some property owners had to relocate herds, other farmers could only stand amid the ruins of gutted homes, dairies and shedsDairy farmers Julie and Ben Whiteley returned to their Labertouche farm to find the house, equipment, sheds and orchards destroyed.

"Yesterday we were dairy farmers, today we’re not," Ms Whiteley said.

"Nothing survived. We lost everything. Even the hay.

"There is nothing for the cows to eat. There is probably only a week’s worth of feed left and then we will have to sell the cows or move them on to another farm."

Yesterday they still had 300 cows that had to be milked.

"We left Friday night but came back to grab the last bits and pieces," Ms Whiteley said.

"We didn’t know how bad it was until we came back.

"There is no description for that feeling."

The couple, who have two children, have worked to build up the share farm since they moved to the area two years ago. They were not insured.

Fire also destroyed the historic property and former home of Sir Ian Beaurepaire and his wife, Dame Beryl.

It is believed the couple’s two sons, John and Donald, returned late on Saturday to remove items of value.