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Tuesday, March 4, 2025

News Classifieds Digital Editions

Opinion
Opinion

Trickle or torrent - this is Australia

RIGHT now, Australian farming has got bigger problems than climate change. We are struggling to simply cope with climate constant. This is the stuff of drought and flooding rains. Take Hamilton in the heart of Victoria’s Western District – in the...

22 Feb 2025
North West Farmer

Harvest is rolling and so is the wildlife

COLIN FREE THE wine grape harvest is now in full swing, with the earlier ripening white varieties such as Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio coming off first. Although the other whites and reds won’t be too far away. And I’m delighted to...

21 Feb 2025
Opinion

It’s not what you say ...

Whacker columnHAD some ag college kids out at the home farm the other day, probably thinking they might get their little hands a little dirty for a change. Instead of sitting in their classrooms/loungerooms/bedrooms, tap, tap, tapping at their little...

20 Jan 2025
Opinion

I imagined I knew a bit more about life

DO you ever look up at the clouds?Not to check the weather, just to look. I used to do it a lot as a kid, seeing what was happening up there, just to see what I could see – or imagined I could see – floating past on a daily basis. You’ll notice...

20 Dec 2024
Opinion

Press releases, potholes and bureaucratic bull

THERE I was, sitting in the editor’s office at the local newspaper the other day. Mind you, I say editor and office with a slight tongue in the cheek as he is also the journalist, the advertising manager and receptionist. Hey, I live near a small...

21 Nov 2024
Opinion

You protest too much, methinks

THE old Whacker has been known to make the odd protest or two over the years (very odd, some have suggested).Such as the times (and this is an ongoing almost-annual outrage) the local agent tells me my selling fees have to go up. Again. Then there was...

19 Oct 2024
Most popular
Opinion

Why there’s no more playing the field

THE old Whacker has been fielding a few questions of late. About field days. Obviously, I would be the person to ask for the best advice, actually, for any advice, and my opinions come at no charge – other than your time. So several of the...

19 Oct 2024
Opinion

More water polo, less Skippy nightmares

SO the Olympics have been run, won and done. Have to be honest here, just between you and me, that – just occasionally – having a little prostate problem actually works out. When you are up and down a few times a night for a little relief here and...

18 Aug 2024
Dairy

Always embrace the art of learning

I often shock people when they hear me talking and singing to myself. But hey, I’m like “of course I talk to myself, where else can I get such expert advice for free?”I also had another birthday a few weeks ago, and obviously I’m fitter...

24 Jun 2024
Opinion

Get me out of here... Scooters, babblers and bank-heist bills

I don’t think the old Whacker will be heading into town again anytime soon. It’s just too bloody confusing, congested and now, increasingly, confronting. We took the train down because the missus refuses to drive in Melbourne. And she also refuses...

21 Jun 2024
Wine Grapes

All’s quiet, but sadly it might get even quieter

WE have just had 11 marvellous millimetres of rain from the recent event – and it was most welcome. While all our grapevines are just about dormant, they will still require wet roots to keep them happy until we get...

20 May 2024
Opinion

Budgetary black hole beggars belief

You call this a budget? Bloody hell, if I served up a load of tripe this big at the back I would be tarred, feathered and run out of town. I’d have to run as it simply isn’t safe driving on most of our country roads – there are potholes out...

18 May 2024
Opinion

Processing sector feels the squeeze

I have been quietly waiting for about two years for something to go pop in the Australian dairy industry. Milk prices have been high – above market prices due to processors fighting for milk supply among a steadily reducing number of farmers. My...

17 May 2024
Opinion

Post going the way of black ants?

So it’s come to this. Australia Post is going out of the postal business. The postie is now going to deliver mail only every other day. Express post items will still come daily – why not, they cost more?Mind you, out here express delivery means it...

20 Apr 2024
Opinion

The big shift in our small world

AROUND the old Whacker family property, I can report most things still seem to be White Anglo Saxon (sort of) Protestant. Except for the odd South African, of course, and some of those blokes have very odd views about how to run a farm, I might...

13 Mar 2024
Opinion

A strong doze of reality

I’D like to say I bounced out of bed the other day. Instead I felt as though I had been bounced. While I have been putting the odd bit of stiffness and soreness down to the previous day’s hard yakka, that excuse is starting to wear...

20 Feb 2024
Opinion

Seeking relief from the pain of school reunions

I’VE said it more than once, but I’ll say it again. Only because I’ve just come back from a school reunion – which was nowhere near the gathering it has been in years past. In fact I reckon the poor galoot in charge of organising...

21 Jan 2024