Rabbits are the single most expensive pest a young vineyard faces on the Mornington Peninsula. A rabbit will ring-bark a newly planted vine at the graft union in a night, and a run of chewed guards down a row can set a block back a full season. Established vines cope better, but during establishment and through a dry summer the damage adds up fast.
The problem with rabbits is that you can't shoot your way to zero: they breed faster than any shooter can remove them. Shooting works as two things instead, the first hard knock that drops the standing population quickly, and the follow-up that keeps numbers down after you've dealt with the warrens. We run small-calibre thermal sessions along the rows, headlands, dam banks and fence lines where rabbits shelter, worked after cellar-door hours so your guests never see it.
The lasting fix is the warren. Shooting clears the rabbits that are out feeding, but the warren keeps producing more, so the two jobs go together: we knock the numbers down and point out the active warrens we find along your fence lines and banks so your crew can rip or fumigate them. Deal with the warren and the rabbits don't come back the same way.
None of it involves bait near the fruit. There's no 1080, no pindone, no residue and no food-safety question anywhere near the vines, which matters for organic and certified blocks and for anyone who doesn't want poison in a paddock worked by dogs and people. Everything is target-specific and nothing is left behind.
The best time to start is before and during establishment, and again heading into a dry summer when feed gets short and rabbits move onto the vines. Most vineyards we work run a monthly program from budburst to veraison with extra visits if damage picks up. The first night is free, so book an assessment and we'll walk the rows with you and set a plan around your spray and harvest calendar.