Alpacas at Bairnsdale have sprung to national fame lately, involved in research that may help in the fight against COVID-19. Bairnsdale researcher and veterinarian, Andrew Padula, previously the owner of the Bairnsdale Animal Hospital, is facilitating the animal side of the research for the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. After recent media reports, Dr Padula stresses...

The traditional open auction of the Gippsland Merino Breeders annual sale has been replaced this year by the AuctionsPlus system. The sale will run online on September 1, with 184? Head registered for sale, however, studs will still host inspection days on August 24 and 25, with Pendarra and Round Hill at Benambra and Omeo, pencilled in for the first day, and Stockton at Hillside, The Fringe at...

They may retail at $3000 a kilogram but truffles don’t actually grow on trees, rather, they grow on tree roots underground. At Tambo Upper, a variety of factors including a trip to New Zealand, a rescue dog and a penchant for the unusual, have come together to form a working truffière that has produced its first crop this year. Truffière is the term for a truffle tree orchard where the truffle,...

New technology that monitors beehives is being heralded as a world first. Australia is the only populated country in the world where bees have not been impacted by the Varroa mite but experts predict it’s only a matter of time before it establishes itself in Australia. The Varroa mite attaches itself to bees, is known to transmit viruses among them and mainly feeds and reproduces on larvae and...

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...