September 2011 Tattler.pdf - Platypus Country

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Who will buy? This advertisement appeared in The Land and no doubt elsewhere a few weeks ago. I am not a disinterested observer—being a neighbour to one of the Willmott properties—but I hope that local plantations are sold for once over logging and restored for grazing, giving the majestic yellow box I remember a chance to re-emerge.. It is hard to see how maintaining it as a pinus radiata plantation will be profitable for a new owner and the community has shown that it regrets the intrusion of pines into our predominantly grazing economy. Recent winds have scattered pine pollen all over the district.; you will be pleased to know that doctors consider the particles too large to cause allergies. Hopefully a good rain will soon wash it from all the surfaces it has covered. Deb The <strong>Tattler</strong> has tried to make contact with the vendors and asked to be kept in the loop. I am not holding my breath, however, as the first inquiry assumed I wanted to buy the Cabanandra plantations and simply told me I was too late! ACMI film borrowing service The Tubbut Neighbourhood House thanks the Australian Centre for the Moving Image and East Gippsland Shire Library its service in supplying and delivering DVDs and VCR tapes reliably every month for the past year. A number of people have viewed the movies and it is a program worth continuing. However, the limitations of the ACMI collection—it hasn’t had a budget to buy new films for some time so there are few recent films—has us exploring commercial mail order film providers. We hope that we will be able to announce the new service in the next <strong>Tattler</strong>.
News from the Departments Victorian farmers under 35 years of age can apply for grants of up to $10,000 to enhance their business’s productivity and sustainability. $1.2 million has been allocated to the program. Check the DPI web site for further details. Premier roadshow in Gippsland Premier Ted Baillieu swung through Gippsland last week, looking at the highway repairs at Morwell (“re-opening before the school holidays”), attending the Telstra-Bendigo Bank Business Awards breakfast in Traralgon, meeting with East Gippsland Shire, and sharing lunch at Bairnsdale with about 150 local movers and groovers. Mr Baillieu drew applause with his announced $7.6m upgrade between Stratford to Bairnsdale and from Orbost to Cann River as part of a $36m program to reduce crashes from Longwarry to the NSW border. Works on the Stratford to Bairnsdale section are expected to start in December. The Orbost to Cann River section works will start mid-2012 He also reaffirmed that Bairnsdale would be home to one of five satellite offices in regional Victoria for the Department of Premier and Cabinet. Weathering climate change The potential effects of climate change on Gippsland’s agricultural landscape were examined in a day-long session held at DPI Ellinbank on August 9. More than 70 regional leaders met to discuss future opportunities at a session organised by the DPI with the Victorian Centre for Climate Change Adaptation Research. The meeting was part of a future-scoping project undertaken by the Gippsland Local Government Network. Farmers, planning officials, leaders from dairying, horticulture, municipal government and other groups were invited to consider the barriers and potential opportunities. Keynote speaker was Prof. Andrew Campbell, of Charles Darwin University, who began his address by noting development pressure, and its effects on water, land and power supplies. “As humans, our stocking rate has gone through the roof but our paddock’s not getting any bigger,” he said. Sample your soil in Spring Spring is ideal for soil sampling your paddocks. Five sample tests will give a good indication of your farm’s fertiliser and lime requirements. Transect sampling of paddocks or areas will provide the best representative samples for testing. Always use a 10cm soil sampling tool to collect the 20 to 30 soil cores needed. Use the GPS to assist with being able to locate where you took the samples for future reference. With the wet conditions we have experienced it is likely that paddocks will need topping up with potassium and sulphur type fertilisers. Apply fertiliser, particularly those containing potassium on your hay and silage paddocks either early or after crops have been removed. Applying potassium too close to harvest could lead to raised levels of it in the conserved feed, causing metabolic problems when fed out to springing cows. With many paddocks damaged due to the wet conditions, silage reserves may be at a premium. So consider whether you use nitrogen to boost pasture to create a surplus for silage making. Watch for grass tetany DPI Animal Health Officer Matthew Bollen said at this time of year, grass tetany was potentially a major problem in cattle in this part of Australia. “Since cattle with grass tetany often die suddenly, the first sign of grass tetany on your property might be a dead cow. Naturally, this is a situation you would prefer to prevent,” Mr Bollen said. “To establish the likelihood of grass tetany occurring on your property it is worth considering some of the risk factors involved.” • Grass tetany is associated with immature, rapidly growing, grass dominant pastures. • It is associated with soils that are high in potassium, or with the heavy use of nitrogen or potash fertilisers. • Older, fatter cows soon after calving are most likely to be affected. • Grass tetany is most likely to occur during cool and cloudy weather. “After considering the risk factors it is worth planning how you would prevent and, if necessary, treat an outbreak of grass tetany on your property,” Mr Bollen said. Grass tetany, also known as hypomagnesaemia, occurs when blood magnesium levels are low. As cattle’s bodies are unable to store magnesium, to prevent grass tetany, magnesium supplementation needs to be given daily to cattle during periods of greatest risk. Supplementing your herd can be done by giving treated hay, mineral licks, magnesium capsules, a combination of these or other available treatments. Mr Bollen said when cattle were affected clinically with grass tetany they displayed initial excitement, bellowing, muscle spasms, tetany and finally convulsions before dying. “Since grass tetany leads to the rapid death of cattle, the treatment of clinical cases is an emergency situation and veterinary assistance should be sought immediately. A veterinarian will give a calcium and magnesium solution intravenously,” Mr Bollen said. “Clinical cases of grass tetany and cattle lost to the condition are best prevented with some forward planning.” For further information or advice please contact your local veterinarian or DPI veterinary or animal health officer.
Page 1 and 2: September 2011 Next deadline: 28th
Page 3 and 4: outreach Orbost Espresso Coffee Bas
Page 5 and 6: The Little Green Frog Van will be i
Page 7 and 8: The 45 lessons life taught me Writt
Page 9 and 10: Increased use of the motorcar and t
Page 11 and 12: Hotel Danebo, Martins Creek, around
Page 13: Delegate Joins Pink Force at Nation
Page 17 and 18: CFA—Report from Gippsland Regiona
Page 19 and 20: Marketing the region as AUSTRALIA
Page 21 and 22: In 1950 the District Inspector was

September 2011 Tattler.pdf - Platypus Country

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?