The Otago Regional Council is looking at ways it can assist farmers with the "excessive" cost of controlling rabbits.
Otago Regional Council regional services group manager Jeff Donaldson told the New Zealand Biosecurity Institute conference in Queenstown the council was looking at options of paying for pest management over a period of time.
More than 200 delegates are attending the three-day conference in Queenstown this week.
The council's Pest Management Strategy is lowering the maximum allowed levels of rabbits in the region.
Landowners had until October 2012 to bring their rabbit infestations down to the new limits.
The council will perform spot inspections and if non-complying landowners failed to remedy the situation, regional council contractors could do the job and send the bill to the landowner.
Mr Donaldson told the delegates the council could help landowners by allowing them to pay over a period of time.
"You have to budget for rabbit control like you do animal health. A lot failed to do that and paid the price," he said.
However, he acknowledged many farmers could not sustain the cost of controlling rabbits.
He said more than 50,000ha of land in Otago did not comply with new levels.
