Poachers are using thermal imaging scopes to illegally shoot deer in private property at night at Castleburn, 20 minutes south of Dargo. Farmers then find the evidence in the daylight, usually a headless deer carcass. At Castleburn, Emile Theodore, believes it’s only a matter of time before livestock or horses kept in paddocks along the roadside will be mistakenly shot. “It’s really difficult to...

Ear samples from young dairy heifers are creating a bank of technological data for the Evans family, allowing management decisions to be made about which heifers will join the milking herd. “The data from the sample is said to be the equivalent of having seven years of data in the herd,” Huw Evans said. “The goal is to raise less heifers. “The ones we do raise are much more likely to be in the...

In early January, Bairnsdale Advertiser rainfall contributor of 20 years, Alan Stickland of Sarsfield, rang in with his weekly rain total. “My rain gauge is still standing but my house isn’t,” Mr Stickland said. “We’re staying near Lucknow, do you want the rainfall for Lucknow too?” Mr Stickland and his wife Pauline used to live at Cousins Court, Sarsfield. Their attitude to losing much of their...

Polarised opinions on the issue of wild dog management have seen an awkward term for the State Government’s Wild Dog Management Advisory Committee. Last month the seven-member committee finished its three-year term and was not expected to be continued. East Gippsland farmers with experience of dog attacks on livestock, Simon Lawlor, of Omeo, and Alan Brown, of Orbost, were on the committee as...

Storing water from the Mitchell River’s winter flows is almost a reality for Lindenow Valley farmers who are building dams to help shore up their water supply over summer. For the Bulmer family, who farm more  than 1000 acres of vegetables, and usually produce millions of lettuces over summer, their dam on the north of the Mitchell River is the culmination of many years of lobbying. “This...