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Plains Producer
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Wednesday June 30, 2010
STAR OF THE NORTH
GOOD NEWS!
Council to save our bus service n Report, Page 3
Billykl ava! PICTURE: Lisa Redpath KINGSLEY Cottle surveys a damaged Watchman canola crop resown with beans.
MICE CONTINUE TO CHALLENGE FARMERS:
Ground zero! They are small, hairy and have been destroying farmers crops for the past few months. The mice plague on the Adelaide Plains is said to be one of the worst in recent years and is causing havoc on newly sown crops. Farmers around Balaklava and across the district, from Watchman in the north to surrounding areas such as Long Plains and Mallala are being forced to resow hectares of land and spend thousands of dollars trying to bait the mice, which won’t go away. Canola crops are being hit hard as mice attack seed which is shallowly sown.
LAUREN HERMON reports:
Some farmers have described paddocks as “mice highways” as the mice follow newlysown furrows, either eating the oily canola seed or attacking new shoots. Mice descend on the crops at night, often from areas outside the cropped land. Watchman farmer Kingsley Cottle was forced to resow 110 hectares of canola on June 12 from the 140 hectares of canola which he had previously sowed on May 1. “I resowed using beans because mice
n Geelong legend Billy Brownless, pictured with Balaklava coach Stuart Lamond, attracted a huge crowd to Balaklava Sports Club on Monday night. Report and pictures, SPORT.
winner!
don’t like it as much as they do canola,” Kingsley said. He said it was harder to resow because the mice did not eat in a pattern. Kingsley said the recent plague had been very disappointing for him and other farmers across the region. “It’s definitely disappointing, especially because of other issues in recent years like droughts,” he said. He was hoping the recent stint of rain would be enough to kill the mice or at least minimise numbers. • Continued Page 2
Two Wells rail plan fizzles District Council of Mallala is disappointed with a report which claims a northern freight rail bypass to join the main east-west line near Two Wells is too expensive to justify. Mallala Council’s chief executive officer, Charles Mansueto, said the study was narrow in its scope and did not highlight potential for
the Adelaide Plains. Council made a submission to the study, commissioned by the Federal government. “The study didn’t take into account broader economic potential for the region and state,” Mr Mansueto said. The Adelaide Rail Freight Movement Study,
released last Thursday after months of deliberation and submissions from various stakeholders, investigated replacing the freight line through the Adelaide hills to Melbourne. Several options, most resulting in a rail hub developed north of Two Wells, were considered. n Read the full report, Page 9
n “Bye Bye Birdie – Review and pictures, Page 4
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n WHO won the Plasma
TV? See Page 2
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AUBURN
BALAKLAVA PT WAKEFIELD
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Hayfield Plains Retirement Village 7 Diekman Terrace, Balaklava. To find out more, call Katherine Clark on 8239 9800.