Beekeepers deal with Varroa mite | Stock & Land - video Dailymotion

Travis Shearer and Ben Gibbs talk about the impact of Varroa mite on their beekeeping business.

Transcript

00:00Almond pollination is the honeypot of the season for us.

00:03It's one of the biggest livestock events in the country.

00:06We're over 360,000 hives.

00:09We're from Victoria, all around New South Wales

00:11and Queensland down to the Victorian New South Wales border

00:14to pollinate almond trees.

00:16For us, it's quite important.

00:18It's a good chunk of money we get off pollination

00:20to help us fund our business and keep costs going

00:23and helps us grow.

00:25How much is varroa mite affecting the industry

00:28at the moment?

00:29It first started by affecting our movement

00:31around the country.

00:32It made it very difficult for us

00:33to actually move the hives to the almonds.

00:37Once we started working through that

00:38with the local governments,

00:40we were able to move them in

00:42and now we're finding it's the next step.

00:45It's the treatment and what the varroa will do

00:48to the behaviour of the bee

00:49and how that will affect the pollination of the trees.

00:53Are you concerned about varroa mite

00:54with the almond pollination season upon you at the moment?

00:57Yes, it's at the forefront of our minds currently.

01:02We're expecting to get the mite

01:04after this pollination experience.

01:06So it's a bit stressful for us,

01:09but unfortunately, we have to pollinate to run our business

01:13and we're just thinking ahead on how we can treat

01:15once we do get the mite.

01:17What do you think is the best approach in your mind

01:20to tackle the varroa mite going forward?

01:23I believe training is very important.

01:26If we can train beekeepers

01:27on how to use these treatments effectively

01:30to really bring the mite numbers down in hives,

01:32that will help everyone maintain good, healthy bees.