The primary point of entry for the pests is the transport infrastructure slicing through the farm, which includes a stretch of State Highway 1 and four kilometers of KiwiRail tracks. For years, the farm relied on traditional control methods, collaborating with neighbors to spread carrots laced with Pindone poison. However, chemical baiting has proven increasingly ineffective due to “bait shyness,” as the rabbits avoid the carrots in favor of high-quality dairy pasture. The poisoning strategy is further complicated by timing; it is only highly effective when grass covers are kept artificially low, forcing a difficult trade-off between maximizing early-spring herd feed and managing pest control.

To break the deadlock, the farmers have joined two neighboring sheep property owners to establish the “Waihola Highway Community Rabbit Project.” The group successfully secured $23,309 in environmental funding from the Otago Regional Council’s (ORC) latest Eco Fund round. The capital will be utilized to purchase materials for retrofitting heavy-duty, rabbit-proof wire netting along the fences bordering the railway line. To maximize the reach of the grant, the landowners are undertaking the physical installation work themselves, focusing their initial efforts on the highest-risk corridor along the tracks.

The infrastructure project follows years of frustration with alternative control measures, including professional hunting sweeps. While a team of 15 hunters successfully culled 1,400 rabbits on the property during a single weekend, the animals quickly adapted by retreating to deep burrows and becoming highly sensitive to the smell of gunpowder. Additionally, although KiwiRail assisted with aerial baiting along the rocky rail ballast four years ago, the rabbits largely ignored the poison, forcing the farmers to dedicate a six-meter-wide paddock strip alongside the tracks as a dedicated, low-pasture baiting zone for the past three seasons.