Happy New Year

Happy New Years

Christmas was indeed interesting, celebrating the festive season in bright sunny, 28C weather, having a fabulous Chrissy Tea in the shade of a gum tree followed by a friendly game of cricket afterwards on the lawn. I was invited out to Stuart and Edna Forsyth, both 80 but still on the farm running some fat lambs (terminal cross as opposed to wool sheep) and their immediate family, a total of about 25.

Stuarts passion for farming is as strong as ever and we had an interesting chat about the industry, his earlier cropping times up north, to when he ran a few head of cattle and now just the sheep. He was eager to head out during the Holidays to buy some new rams, about 5 that he needed for his new crop of lambs.

Then in the evening I was with a bit of an international crowd with DPI staff from China, Taiwan and South Africa hosted by Pat Mibus originally from Kentucky, USA and her husband Graham.

The last month has flown by at lightening speed. I posted earlier some of my involvement with a few weed projects and I thought perhaps a little more about Hamilton would be in order and the actual place where I work.
My office is about 10 km south of Hamilton, a town of about 8500 people, very quiet and rural in atmosphere.The office is under the Victorian State Department of Primary Industries, Farm Services Victoria, Landscape Protection portfolio. Coming from my local government organizational level up in Alberta to a state level here in Australia was obviously a significant adjustment but they are eager to hear how agricultural programs are run at a municipal level and conversely I am pleased to participate in their programs also. The Department of Primary Industries is one of 10 Victorian Government Departments and with a very strong regional focus they employ more than 2,500 staff at 80 locations across the state. DPI provides advice and support to both the Minister of Agriculture and the Minister of Energy and Resources (agriculture, fisheries, earth resources, and energy and forest industries) and provides services to all Victorians by encouraging the sustainable development of primary industries. The DPI office in Hamilton has a small research station and houses staff from another state department, Sustainability and Environment (water shed resources, climate change, fires, parks and other public land, forests, biodiversity and ecosystem conservation). It is an interesting mix of people, expertise and job descriptions.

Global warming is a popular, and at times divisive, topic here as it is in Canada.
The evidence of a warmer and drier climate is easily felt when hearing the news of a third consecutive year of no irrigation in a large portion of the Murray Darling watershed. The impact on farming has been catastrophic to an area that once was the largest rice producing area in the world. Recently, driving by the now grassed covered lake in nearby Ballarat, I learned that the 1956 Olympics’ rowing competitions were in fact held there. My surprise over the divisiveness is the fact that despite such obvious signs of climate change there are still a few opinions that it is not human-caused but merely a natural phenomenon.

Hamilton is in The Western District of Victoria and the most well known landmark is the Grampians, which is part of the Great Divide mountain range that runs along the east coast of Australia and bends west through Victoria separating the higher rainfall along the coast from the much drier area on the inside of the range. The Murray River is the state's north boundary. The picture on the left is taken just prior to landing at the Hamilton airport on a recent return flight from Melbourne and the other is just outside of the little town called Dunkeld 30 km east of Hamilton. We have had some rain lately, in fact the coolest December in 7 years, things are greening up slightly and people have some smiles on their faces. The picture on the right is of a couple of Laughing Birds, the Kookaburra sitting near McKenzie Falls in the Grampians. They can make quite a racket when they "laugh"

On the flip side the showers have stalled harvest and there has been some deterioration especially in the Canola crops. Harvest was otherwise in full swing, a bit strange as we have just entered summer and despite the drought the wheat, barley, bean and canola crops have done relatively well. The annual crops are in reality seeded in the fall but not winter crops as such. They germinate well this time of year as soil moisture improves with winter approaching and the main growth happens late winter and early spring to come to maturity early summer. Slight frosts may impact crop development on a rare occasion but judging by the crops they are pretty comparable to a good crop in Alberta. The swathed canola crop among the gum trees with a wool shed in the background is from the Casterton area of Victoria.

Mixed cropping and sheep is a common enterprise using the sheep as a clean-up after harvest.

On my way back from a trip up to the north west corner of Victoria I encountered a sheep drive, quite common on the rural roads with the flock getting shifted between paddocks or coming home for shearing. It was a treat to see the dogs master the flock on commands from the truck driver pushing them past my vehicle parked on the shoulder.

I will be away on some hawkweed surveying/control up in the Victorian Alps early in the New Year and may not be near an internet connection for awhile. Mount Bogong is the areas most well known mountain, about 2000 meters high and one of the ski sports destinations during winter. It will be considerably cooler up there, but it should be a good time to see this place with many of the alpine flowers in bloom including hopefully not much orange and yellow hawkweed. The area is very susceptible to hawkweeds, which has devastated New Zealand. It also has the potential to significantly impact Alberta and anyone travelling to through Sicamous BC in late June can relate to the competitiveness of these species in a range situation. We have found and eradicated a couple of infestations in Clearwater County so far and the images from the New Zealand has certainly given some motivation to stay vigilant.

I'll be the first to welcome the New Year so with this - Best Wishes for 2009.

Kim J. Nielsen, Pest Management Officer/Clearwater County Agricultural Fieldman, Hamilton, Victoria, Australia

Kim.Nielsen@dpi.vic.gov.au

Seasons Greetings

It has been fun posting my "happenings" and I am getting used to the blog. I just up-dated my profile and included my e-mail address farmer-kim@hotmail.com. It appears that there has been a fair bit of activity on my blog with 40 visits so far, which is good, worthwhile posting some up-dates then and obviously going beyond my immediate family. I do save the postings also so I have a bit of a personal diary. I have discovered that the older posts are automatically deleted after about 30 days. Not knowing who is visiting I'd appreciate a quick e-mail so I know who you all are. Thanks!

The last couple of weeks have been busy. It is Friday December 19 and catching up on some office stuff before the weekend. Going back to December 9 I travelled back up to Melbourne with some of the office staff to take part in a Regionally Prohibited Weeds Meeting. Under the Future Farming Initiative the goal is to improve biosecurity at a regional scale by managing regionally prohibited weeds. There are some commonalities to Alberta such as Canada Thistle, (they call it California thistle down here and I think that is a fine name!), Scotch Thistle, Ragwort, St. Johns Wort and Golden Dodder (dodder is a Restricted weed in Alberta). But there are also some exotic species such as African Feather Grass, Serrated Tussock, Gorse, which are new to me. Interestingly enough on the state prohibited list we see Orange Hawkweed, Giant Knotweed and Nodding Thistle. State Probited Weeds have to be eradicated and is done by state staff. Staff surveying is also done for Regionally Probited weeds, but the onus for follow up eradication is the landowners' responsibility and a Notice is automatically issued when Regionally Prohibited Weeds are found. I will be assisting in reviewing species information drafts on the different species drawn up by staff and this standardized process would be helpful back in Alberta. The meeting also had some valuable program evaluation processes for programs, operational as well as client based.

Later in the week I moved onto the topic of Weed Alert and Weed Spotter programs. Weed Alert is a process of preparing for potential foreign weed introductions and it will give me a chance to be directly involved with their weed risk assessment . The Weed Alert has forecasted introductions of Spotted Knapweed, Leafy Spurge and Cypress Spurge, which are common across Western Canada. This is the main weed related link under the department www.dpi.vic.gov.au/vro/weeds A guest speaker from New Zealand Dr. Peter Espie presented a shocking impact of Orange Hawkweed (Hieracium aurantiacum) and Mouse Eared Hawkweed (Hieracium pilosella) across New Zealand despite the early warnings as far back as 1884 of the potential impact on native range and natural eco systems. Dr. Espie's comments to eradicate any hawkweed species across all of Australia rather than repeating the NZ experience came with conviction and passion, a good speaker for a large weed function anywhere in North America.

I will be taking in some hawkweed surveying/control of the Snowy Mountain alps January 5-8, one of the few places where Orange Hawkweed has been found. Not bad place to visit either.

This week December 14 brought me back to Melbourne for a debriefing on the Mexican Feather Grass (Nassella tenuissima) Project. http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/vrosite.nsf/pages/weeds_perennial_mexican_feathergrass MFG is a State Prohibited Weed across all of Australia and the discovery of the plant in a Melbourne Garden Center in May by one of the DPI staff brought out an unprecedented response plan/investigation that had far reaching impacts. The seed source is likely south america but the original seed packet came via Chicago and Germany and upon arriving in Australia the seeds were placed in pairs in a cube of organic material and fertilizer for further propagation in green houses. The investigation estimates that 11,500 plants came out of this process. Some greenhouses producing two viable plants from the cube further split the plants which complicated the calculation of how many plants may have been offered for sale. A totally inefficient trace back of the plants sold as a Mother's Day gift also made it difficult to trace the end destination, so the bulk of the activities, once the warehouses and retailers realized the seriousness, was to simply knock on doors, do media blitzs and assist with product recall. 6,900 plants were retrieved back but the work is ongoing. 5 court orders are in the works as there was an effort to cover up, or derail the investigation, which ultimately confirmed the plants sold as MFG via DNA analysis. There is a fair bit of interest in arid gardens, or extremely drought tolerant gardens, which brought on the interest in this plant. It is a tussock species, but relative to Serrated Tussock, which is estimated to cost Austalian agriculture 50,000 millions annually, the impact from MFG is estimated to be 6 times this amount, extremely prolific and totally unpalatable to any stock.

After Monday's debriefing I had a chance to see some country as I travelled across the top of Victoria to take in some surveying for the Regionally Prohibited Weed, Golden Dodder (Cuscuta campestris, a parasitic weed that feeds off of its host plant and has no clorophyll.) In Alberta we see this in sugar beets by another cuscuta species and there are others in this genus natually dispersed across the landscape. The survey was in center pivot irrigated alfalfa and white clover fields, which we surveyed on foot, good excercise after having sat in way too many meetings.

There is another interesting initiative that I had a chance to participate in this week's thursday, of engaging the local shires into doing some weed and pest control on their own roadsides. Considering the Alberta county based roadside vegetation management programs I found the reluctance among some of shires interesting. There will be other meetings coming up strategizing and attempting to win over 5 shires that have dug their heels in and I made short presentation to the working committee how our roadside peogram works in Clearwater County.

Now there is a bit of leisure also. Last weekend I had a chance to take in some field and game range shooting, which I have never tried before. I did some trap shooting many, many moons ago back in Denmark but this was a field simulated set-up with clay targets coming as rabbits in one station, high flying pheasants in another and double quail targets criss crossing at the same time. What I got out of it was a bunch of fun, a sore shoulder and a chance ot meet some neat rural aussie folks.

Last night I had a chance to put "gun" to practice as John Matthews (far right in center photo), who works for DPI also and I along with driver Bruce did some rabbit thinning around the research station. This is night shooting using a ute (pick-up) driven by Bruce and John and I in the back, one spotlighting the other shooting using a shotgun. The rabbits knew quickly what was up and chased back across the road to the tall grass very quickly once the spotlight was on them, so you had to be quick, both the spotlighter and the shooter. A fun night bringing in 3 hares and 15 rabbits in about 1 1/2 hrs.

Concluding this posting I wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and all the best for 2009. The forceast for Christmas is 28-30C, I will be with an international crowd invited to the Mibus house on the 25th. Pat Mibus is from Kentucky and other guests are from South Africa, Taiwan, Sweden and China.

With a Melbourne Christmas Tree on Swanston Street

Season Greetings

Kim

Started Work

Started work December 1 at the Hamilton Department of Primary Industries office located about 10 km south of Hamilton. This is a regional office and actually housed a large research facility at one point in time. Things have been privatized considerably but there is still a fair research component including a meat lab and some green houses. Interestingly one of the researchers John Graham, Beef Research Scientist travelled throughout Western Canada a couple of years ago and stopped in at several research farms including the Lacombe Research Station. He is keen to know more about the feed efficiency work that Alberta has done over the last few years and is ccurrently doing some fascinating work on Nitrous Oxide emissions from different cropping scenarios.

Another point of interest is the fact that the Alberta Livestock and Meat Industry was built around the Australian model, which actually originated in Victoria, so in this part of the world there is a lot of emphasis on trace back compliance, which shows at the sales yards in the posting of signs - $500 fine for failing to tag livestock with the Australian Livestock Information Scheme's mandatory Radio Frequency Tag usage.

Anyways, work has begun, the office is an open work environment, which is a bit unusual. In our new office in Clearwater I slowly grew accustomed to vehicle noise being close to the street. Here I am adjusting to people noise and some of the aussie women can be as loud as a dodge cummins with straight pipes!

The first couple of days was spent getting a bit of an orientation and tour of the facility. There is a certain process for booking vehicles, using photocopier (codes for assigning expenses), building access cards etc. and the main orientation is actually an on-line version, which I found very convenient and efficient.

One of the tasks on the second day was a field inspection for Giant Knotweed (which was found in Edmonton last summer) in a large arid garden, fabulous place with plants from all corners of the globe and obviously the purposely introduced Giant Knotweed was spotted and reported. William Martin was the owner, originally from Brittain and very knowledgeable in ornamantals bu sharing the concern over the Knotweed also. This is a State Prohibited Weed that the DPI department will actually take care of at no cost to the landowner. The main infestation was treated by staff and William was issued a small bottle of "ready to use" picloram 47 grams/liter called Vigilance registered for ornamentals but unfortunately in this scenario causing some off target injuries. Luckily the landowner accepted this as part of the control experiment and there was no hint of suggesting the department taking responsibility for the damage. Chemical recommendation are handled through either private industry or a designated state employee, not the typical folks on the ground and it can be a bit of a guessing game with such exotics.

Follow up treatment will be with glyphosate instead .

December 3rd brought me to Melbourne for a Program Mangers Bi-monthly meeting and this was an excellent opportunity to hear the variety of programs on the go:
Mexican Feather Grass ( http://www.weeds.org.au/cgi-bin/weedident.cgi?tpl=plant.tpl&state=&s=&ibra=all&card=G13)

investigation (4,000 ornamentals sold via a large garden center, dna tested and the company may be charged with the selling of a state prohibited weed, up to $13,000 fine. There were some evidence of the wholesaler trying to derail the investigation by calling the plants a different name (two similar species with only one being the MFG). All plants still in the stores have been recalled and staff are in the process of following up on sales and recovering the plants, as well as doing media campaigns and inspecting new housing developments. The plants started as imported seed plugs from a warehouse in Chicago and grown in green houses in Australia for further sale as an ornamental grass in local garden outlets. This is a highly invasive plant similar but greater economic impact compared to that of Serrated Tussock, which costs Australian agriculture $50,000,000 per year. Serrated Tussock is more widespread and a Regionally Prohibited Weed in some parts including the Hamilton area.

I have been invited back to a debriefing December 15th, which will conclude with a gala dinner recognizing staff's involvement and celebrating the successful investigation.

Regionally Prohibited Weeds up-date gave an insight into the different classification of weed species across the state and what measures are taken to elevate species. The category below this level is Regionally Controlled (no legislated obligation other than preventing the spread, similar to the Alberta nuisance weed category). State and Regionally prohibited weeds are to be eradicated.

Wild Dog Control Program is a highly political initiative. These are wild dogs mainly of domestic origin, only about 20% dingo and can cause horrific losses in sheep. There is an active program in the "alps" or the Snowy Mountains using traps, snares and some baiting. I will be travelling to the high lands and talk about the Alberta livestock predation program in the new year, which will be a unique opportunity to see this beautiful part of Victoria besides talking to the "doggers".

Rabbit control is also mandatory and landowner directives issued. Baiting of rabbits (oats) and foxes (liver) is common using 1080 bait sold commercially and it is common to see the land posted with 1080 warning signs alerting neighbors to prevent accidental poisoning. Rabbits are common throughout Victoria but a more serious issue in the drier north west. Next week I will take part in some night hunting on the research farm using spotlights and a small center fire rifle 223 calibre, should be fun.

The DPI OH&S program is similar to Clearwater County's although I think sharing our documents might be of value, especially the working alone scenarios, the safe work practices, job procedures, hazard assessments.

I made a powerpoint presentation on our County ag programs and the comments were positive in terms of what they perceive as a very holistic approach to program delivery. There is a clear line and staff segregation between extension and enforcement roles and philosophy in Victoria but I found it pleasing to see the number of staff that preferred the "fostering of internal motivation" approach although the department structure does not permit them to always utilize this.

During a break and before presenting I had a chance to meet the Landscape Protection portfolio director (under DPI Farm Services) Brendan Roughead, who had authorized my hosting program. He was mentioned that he had actually been in Canada as an agricultural exchange association "trainee" in 1981, in Alberta and up in the Peace River area. As I commented that that was the way I originally came to Canada and I in fact used to live up there we realized a common thread that makes this world so small - he actually worked north of Berwyn on the Keilor farm, owned by our good friends Rick and Trudy Keilor! The picture above is of Brendan and Helen Anderson that visited us in Alberta back in May participating in the Weeds Across Borders conference in Banff hosted by the Alberta Invasive Plants Council. As a small token of my appreciation for the hosting program coming to fruition I presented Brendan with an Alberta Invasive Plants Council vest (thanks Vanessa!)

The travel back and forth to Melbourne from Hamilton was in a small commuter prop machine seating about 16. Hamilton was the home of one the Aussie Prime Ministers a few years ago and so an airport was built, unusual for a town of only 8200. This reduces the usual 4 hr car trip to 45 min.

We have a small mountain range near Hamilton called the Grampians, as seen in the picture above. The photo is just before landing at the Hamilton airport.

This posting is getting long. I have lots of other work related stuff to report on. I headed back to Melbourne the week of December 7 also for some Regionally Prohibited Weeds and Weed Alert/Weed Spotter meetings. I'll share the outcome of those later.

The Red Center of Australia

December 5;

Hello on a cool Friday morning , a bit of rain and overcast but cooler from a fairly nice day in Melbourne yesterday. I am not hooked up to the internet at my house so having to sort out the blog posting, e-mails etc. from work. Having been gone for the last two days and all of last week has gotten me a bit behind. So much to learn and only so much time.Lets first start with last week, which was my last bit of holidays before commencing work. Looking at the forecast for Hamilton of only about 14 and having been given an offer of a car for the week I took the plunge into a trip to the "red center" aka Ayers Rock. This proved to be a fantastic trip, although in the end over 5,000 km. The temperatures were forecasted to "only" be in the low thirties and rising as we get into summer. This was the main reason for taking this destination now rather than later. I am glad I took the trip, a fantastic drive across the barren landscape to one of the wonders of the world.Driving north west of Hamilton across Casterton and into South Australia you cross the majestic Murray River and head north into the Adelaide bay and the city of Port Augusta. The landscape changes and you see the large vinyards of Coonawarra before entering some of the main wheat growing areas of South Australia. This is a large state and reached way up into the center, the most amazing town is likely Coober Pedy where 70 % of the worlds opal mining happens. Things are beginning to heat up and most folks actually live underground in the old opal mines. The Coober Pedy Back Packer Hotel is mostly underground, a very unique experience sleeping in an old mine shaft. The material is very chalky and has some "give" to it. Some of the corridors are 12 feet across, all rooms dug/chisseled into the material.As you continue north the remoteness begins to set in, gas stations now 100 plus between, small sign of cattle stations and liv

estock on the road. I crossed the famous dog fence, a 5,000 km structure that was erected to keep the dingoes out of the south. The fence is still doing its job, the traffic crossing a very large cattleguard and the page/chickenwire burried into the ground making it impossible for anything larger than a rabbit to cross through.Road kills are fascinating and I collected a series of photos from cows, sheep, kangaroos, wallabies, emus, parrots, lizzards. The cow losses are quite high and one long skid mark and several totalled car wrecks still left suggested that nigh time driving might be a little too hazardous. The truck up here are called Road Trains, and for a good reason many of them 53.5 meters long. The fuel truck above had four trailers.

The local stations even added their own signs, usually and old car hood - Cattle Caution. Extremely rough country although things were surprisingly green from a wet November. Some years this part of the world receives only anout 3-4 inches but 46 mm had fallen at Kings Canyon and the desert exploded with grass growth and musrooms coming to life. The cattle is a bit of sad story, pretty thin. My first destiny was Kings Canyon, a very pretty place nefore you reach Ayers Rock. There are a number of hiking loops up the valley including a little pool for a soothing dip. With the recent rains there were higher then normal flows in the canyon's little steam but the water was very warm, a favorite resting stop for the many hikers going through the loops every day.Second stop was Ayers Rock where I saw it at sunset. The next morning at sunsrise I went to the Olgas. All hikers go at sunsrise and the light changes as the sun rises makes for some beautifu l color changes in a matter of minutes. All the bus tours head out 4 am and it was a bit of a discovery as to why. During the middle of the day, the heat hazes over the sky and picture taking is not nearly as good. The temperature climbed to 40 with a very strong wind. A young lady from England suffered heat stroke, ignoring advise of drinking at least 1 liter of fluids per hour.The final day was a walk around Ayers Rock again at sunsrise, there is an amazing history and sacredness around the "rock". It is highly discouraged to climb it now as this is seen as an invasion of the aboriginal culture. This particular morning the strong winds had actually closed the climb so I couln't if I had wanted to. Headed back mid morning and made it to Coober Pedy early enough to take in some "noodling", which is surface mining for small opal. Found a few although perhaps only worth a cup of coffee.Last leg to the wheat growing area of South Australia went uneventfull, stayed at a campground near Alligator Canyoun which I walked for a couple of hours before makinmg the last leg to Hamilton arriving late Sunday night in rain and dodging roos on the road for the last 80 km .

This is dragging on. I'll write some work related stuff next, so you don' think this is one big holiday!

Cheers

Kim