Authorities had hoped that this very costly disease had almost been eradicated but recent outbreaks have given us all a heads-up to be extra careful of straying stock and faulty boundary fences.

The age old remedy for an infected flock has been to sell your problem to the butcher and replace with disease free animals.

With many replacement ewes being in the $150-$200 price bracket, the buyer would need much courage and a banker who genuinely loved him.

Please be extra careful with farm biosecurity at present.

EASTER in Bathurst is mostly a great time of the year.

Leaves are falling and there is a distinct bite in the early morning air with the promise of winter woolies being close at hand.

I hope my readers and their families enjoy the peace of the Easter season.

FOR a real country outing on Easter Monday, why not try the Tarana charity yard dog trials at the Tarana Pub.

It’s an 8am start with local, novice and open sections and entries made on the day. 

All monies raised will to to kidney research.

And if the dog trials aren’t your scene, you will love the meals at the Tarana Hotel.

DON’T forget to mark your diaries for April 28-30 for the Reliance Royal Bathurst Show.

Shearing competitions return this year with learner, novice, local and open sections.

The organisers have a great slogan, It’s Your Show, so get your show schedules now from rural outlets as many section entries are closing soon.

GREAT credit must to go all involved with the new dual land highway through Kelso.

Teething problems are still holding up some of the traffic flow, but once fully operational this highway will be a great asset.

A lady of my vintage tells me that her family remembers walking stock into Kelso and to the Bathurst saleyards and that involved using some of the highway.

As a boy, I helped walk about 500 woolly wethers from Raglan hill to Perthville (and return) and crossed the Denison Bridge.

My dad and a drover did the annual trip for a number of years for shearing. 

Many other producers walked cattle and sheep through Kelso to access the saleyards.

Times have certainly changed over 60 years.

MOISTURE stress is starting to be obvious on the great germination of clovers across much of our district, particularly on granite and slate soils.

Pastures look really good at 7am after a heavy dew but by about 3pm we notice the need for another general rain event.

The localised storm at Rockley village late last week that brought 80mm. of rain and heavy hail would have boosted crops and pastures in a small area and I hope that storm damage was limited.

The ABC Rural radio interview with a lady from the Rockley Hotel was an excellent news item.

WESTPAC Bank celebrated its 200th year of operation (the Bathurst branch of Bank of NSW opened in 1857) with a well attended party at the bank premises last week.

Many faces of long term clients and former staff were in attendance and were a who’s who of old Bathurst.

I’m told that Pat Stapleton has been a client of Westpac for almost 70 years.  Surely that entitled him to a Westpac balloon.

One partygoer suggested that the invited crowd was about equal to the weekday queues to the teller’s boxes.

RIGHT at the top of Auctions Plus sheep and lamb sale report for last week was the online sale from Tambo, Queensland of 1200 merino wether lambs, 12 months old, 46kg liveweight, 40mm skins and sold for $122.50.

The buyer of these young woolgrowers has trucked them just over 150 km to his property in Central Victoria.

 We would guess that the young wethers would sleep well after a B-Double ride of that distance.

AFTER two weeks of substantial falls, the wool market clawed some ground back on the second day of selling this week.

Most merino micron categories lost around 150c/kg over the two weeks but are now moving back in a  positive direction.

The northern market indicator finished the week on 1549c/kg, 87ckg down on its high of two weeks ago.

Cross-bred wools held their ground and saw very little change.

With the Sydney sales being out at the Royal Easter Show next week, the market should continue in a positive direction with buyers saying demand is rising again even though we saw two weeks of downturn.

Sales next week will see 46,224 bales on offer nationwide

Mark Horsburgh, TWG Landmark

WHEN George’s son arrived home his wife looked smug.

She said: “I woman came to our door and was collecting for the retirement village. I gave her George.”

***

COMMON sense could probably save many a marriage.

If young women used it there might not be many marriages.

***

A LADY tells this after-cyclone story: “The flooding rains went on all day, followed by roaring winds that de-roofed some houses close by.

“A distinct calm followed for an hour or so until the dreadful gales returned with torrents of more rain.

“Through all this my hubby stood and stared at the window for many hours.

“When the gale finally died down, I opened the door and let him in.”