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...

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...