General News
22 May, 2026
Just more work
BARRY'S CORNER: What a glorious sound to hear decent showers of rain beating on the roof as I nod off to sleep to wake next morning to puddles in the paddocks.
It seems so long ago since there had been good steady rain I had almost forgotten it could do it but the rain chart says we are still in deficit, so let’s make sure it can happen.
Now the trees and shrubs can breathe again and use up any moisture that gratefully falls in the vicinity.
With leaves washed clean and root systems absorbing the lifegiving moisture then the vegetation faces a real chance to survive another year.
Although most vegetation will survive a number of years without much moisture, even in mid-winter there has been talk of snow and for this district it is not a happy camper.
Snow is cold and wet, nice if you can make use of it but a nuisance otherwise.
It is heavy and breaks branches when the settling takes place.
Generally, snow tends to fall in higher altitudes and the Gariwerd/mountains have been worn down too far.
It is good to hear some discussion about eradicating rabbits.
There is a large canvas available to tell the tale of that rabbit.
I think we have dropped the ball on rabbits and have not been doing much monitoring and keeping up any active virus.
A virus has been working to keep some level of control on rabbits.
We need to keep the scientists busy, to develop new strains of virus.
Otherwise, rabbit numbers build up so quickly they are out of the burrows and chewing valuable crops before we know it. We cannot let that happen again.
The downside of this good rain will set off the grasses to grow making easy picking for the rabbits.
Rabbits cost an enormous amount of dollars and time in an effort and keep the pests under various suppression methods.
One method by itself will never clean out the rabbit problem there needs to be a multi pronged approach.
To rip burrows it is good to have one or more dogs running around chasing the rabbits into the warren. Then it can be well ripped.
It is hard trying to keep in front of all the work involved but efforts need to be made, otherwise the task becomes ridiculous and even more costly.