Contract milker Jorg Sahin said the pests had eaten the most pasture in paddocks neighbouring the Clutha Gold Trail in Clarendon, north of Milton.
Consequently, his more than 500 cows had been able to graze the paddocks three times in the past year.
"The rabbits are absolutely destroying those paddocks. It is soul-destroying."
A paddock where new grass was planted at the start of March now featured more than 200 burrows.
A local contractor would lay poison next month and then shoot any remaining rabbits, Mr Sahin said.
He and five neighbours applied for the Otago Regional Council’s annual sustained rabbit management funding, seeking half the cost to rabbit-proof about 8km of fencing near the cycle trail.
"I think the best way forward long term is to fence the rabbits out," Mr Sahin said.
He believed the funding should be promoted by council staff, especially when they were telling landowners they needed to be doing more about rabbit control, and that communication about it could be better.
He learned about the fund from his pest-control contractor.
Land near his farm was managed by NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi and was home to many rabbit burrows, he said.
He wanted the agency to do more to control rabbits on its land, Mr Terwoorst said.
He estimated up to 5000 rabbits were eating pasture and crop on his farm, costing his business up to $150,000 a year.
ORC environmental implementation manager Libby Caldwell said the funding had been widely communicated across Otago since 2018.
The sustained rabbit management incentives funding aimed to support a long-term, sustainable approach to rabbit management.
Community groups and groups of landowners who were working collaboratively could apply for funding. Funding was not available for individual landowners or for undertaking rabbit control on individual properties.
Five groups in Otago were given a share of more than $124,000 for rabbit management last year.
NZTA lower South Island system manager Robert Choveaux said the agency had recently been notified by the ORC about the rabbit problem within its road reserve.
"We are working with the council to ensure we target the right areas and we are committed to providing control on our land."
