THE LONG stretch of mild and wet weather in Victoria's Western District has led to farmers in the area suffering one of their worst infestations of slugs in years.
Slugs, a major pest of canola, have required farmers to resow entire paddocks in isolated cases and many growers have had to replant small patches due to slug damage.
Tatyoon agronomist Craig Drum said the region had been green consistently since February 2020.
"We normally dry off over the summer, but there were storms last February, followed by good autumn rain and again over the normally dry period early this year," Mr Drum said.
"It has meant there has been a green bridge for the slugs to survive on, which in turn has led to a problem at sowing time," he said.
Mr Drum said it was probably the worst slug infestation through the region since 2011 but added farmers had a better handle on management.
"We're a little bit smarter about how we tackle the problem now, but it has still been very challenging."
He said many farmers had spent between $70 and $100 a hectare in baiting.
"It is very expensive, but on the flip side of that canola prices are really good and when we control the slugs we can grow some big canola crops, there are people who averaged 4 tonnes a hectare over the lot last year, so when you do the sums, getting out and controlling the slugs makes sense."
Mr Drum said there were two primary species, the grey and black slugs.
"It has been a mixture as to which one is doing the damage, there hasn't been a clear trend towards one or the other being the problem."
He said the area was currently very wet.
"Especially to the south and east of my region, east of Lake Bolac and across to Skipton and further south it has been really wet.
"I had 80mm for June at Tatyoon and my clients to the south-east had 120mm and you can really notice the extra 40mm, it is making it very difficult to get out on the paddock, we're certainly at risk of waterlogging damage as we've still got a way to go until the days start to lengthen and it gets a bit warmer."
Gregor Heard
Gregor Heard is ACM's national grains industry reporter, based in Horsham, Victoria. He has a wealth of knowledge surrounding the cropping sector through his 15 years in the role. Prior to that he was with the Fairfax network as a reporter with Stock & Land. Some of the major issues he has reported on during his time with the company include the deregulation of the export wheat market, the introduction of genetically modified crops and the fight to protect growers better from grain trader insolvencies. Still involved with the family farm he is passionate about rural Australia and its people and hopes to use his role to act as an advocate for those involved in the grain sector.
Gregor Heard is ACM's national grains industry reporter, based in Horsham, Victoria. He has a wealth of knowledge surrounding the cropping sector through his 15 years in the role. Prior to that he was with the Fairfax network as a reporter with Stock & Land. Some of the major issues he has reported on during his time with the company include the deregulation of the export wheat market, the introduction of genetically modified crops and the fight to protect growers better from grain trader insolvencies. Still involved with the family farm he is passionate about rural Australia and its people and hopes to use his role to act as an advocate for those involved in the grain sector.
