By China Gibson

In Short

• Major Drug Bust: Authorities dismantled a sophisticated $10 million cannabis plantation hidden in a red gum forest near Moulamein; local RFS assisted with the (difficult) burn-off.
• Water Quality Alert: Recent heat and leaf litter have turned the Edward River black; however, oxygen levels remain above the critical 4% threshold for fish safety.
• Sheep Workshops: Upcoming sessions in Wakool (Mar 2) and Moulamein (Mar 3) will focus on "Resilient Sheep" and grazing systems; RSVP is required for the provided meal.

Drug bust up in flames

There is always something happening around Moulamein, but it is not very often we make national news. 

There was a drug bust over near Kerang on Tuesday of about $10,000,000 worth of cannabis.

This was a very sophisticated set-up in greenhouses. 

We were not going to let those Victorians outdo us, so on Wednesday we had our $10,000,000 drug bust just out the road from Moulamein. 

This set up-was on private property but was sown in a red gum forest watered with a dripper system. 

They had gone to a lot of trouble and put a heap of work into this set-up. A couple of our local RFS Brigades got the job of burning this pile of rubbish. 

Green cannabis does not burn too well. The police had piled a bit of dry timber under the pile, but it was not an easy job to get it to burn. With the help of a neighbour’s backhoe to pile a bit of dry timber on top, the job finally got done. Four hours or more working in and around the smoke may have given me a dose, even though the plants were not ready to be harvested. 

Let’s just hope I do not get pulled up for a drug test. If ever I got pulled up for a drug test, my answer was always going to be, Yep, I shared a joint 49 years ago. It should be out of my system by now. 

I had not even seen what a (cannabis) plant looks like until Wednesday. I have lived a very protected life.

Edward Gone Black. 

There is a fair bit of concern about the colour of our river at the

moment. 

There is plenty of water there heading down to the almond farmers on the Wakool River. 

One advantage of that is that it has to come past us. 

Because of the hot weather and our gum trees dropping heaps of leaves and bark at the moment, this makes the water go black. 

I tested the oxygen levels on Sunday. Still at 5.98 per cent in the Edward, 6.1 per cent in the Billabong and 9.7 per cent in our town lake. 

Not ideal levels, but over four per cent is OK for fish. 

Under four per cent fish get crook and under two per cent they start dying. 

Let’s hope that the 22,000 fingerlings that were put back into our rivers last month will get to grow up and not become yabby food. 

With the cooler weather things should start to improve.

Resilient Sheep, Resilient Systems. 

That is what will be covered in the sheep night to be held at Wakool and Moulamein next month. 

The night will teach you how to select sheep that will hold their condition when feed is tight. 

You will learn about cereal grazing, containment feeding and feedlotting lambs.

There will be plenty of other information to be presented by Dr Mark Ferguson on the night. 

There will be two nights held - at Wakool on Monday, March 2 and at Moulamein on Tuesday, March 3.

Both meetings will be starting at 6.30 pm and will go to about 9.30. 

Rick has let the moths out of his wallet, so there will be a meal provided on both nights. 

Funds are pretty tight, so you must book in. For more information please ring Rick on 0428372357 or go to [email protected]