The Horsham area is being examined for plague locust hatchings. The Department of Primary Industries (DPI) says that now, hatchings spots throughout north-west Victoria are confirmed, with the southern-most one that has been found just north of Horsham.

Hatchings were expected to crop up on Saturday, in the region of Mildura and Ouyen and the DPI says that now it has become all the more essential to check land for locust hatchings.

Werrimull, Yatpool, Irymple, Karrawinna, Red Cliffs Lake Powell, Koorlong and Cullulleraine are the areas where Australian plague locusts hatchings have been found. It is reported that 24 samples from the mentioned spots have been evaluated by an entomologist.

He said that 22 of these are verified as Australian plague locusts. In order to lower the risk of damage from the pests, a number of farmers in locust sites are spraying egg beds and farm premises. They are doing it before the hatchings show up.

Ron Hards at Yarrara in the Millewa seems to have discovered that waiting for hatchings to band is not a good decision.

He said, “I have actually sprayed those tracks where I knew the egg beds were and the idea is obviously ... to try and stop them before they get into the wheat crop”.

This way major damage can be averted, he added.