IT HAS besieged homes, piled up high against fences, blocked back roads and even sparked bush folklore of children being lost in the stuff.
This is hairy panic grass, which has inundated parts of Wagga Wagga and Riverina areas because of drought-breaking rain.
The native grass has now germinated and is setting its seeds as it is blown across the area by autumn winds.
"I’ve been in the Wagga area for more than 60 years and never seen it this bad,’’ Brucedale farmer Jeff Newman said.
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Mr Newman said the weed had been almost absent from the area for four or five years, but boomed after rain in March. The explosion was helped by some paddocks being almost abandoned by farmers during the drought.
While it can be good fodder in moderation when it has just sprouted, it can also be deadly, an Industry and Investment NSW spokeswoman said.
If sheep eat too much, particularly young sheep, it can cause serious, bizarre and sometimes fatal reactions.
The grass contains a toxin which blocks bile ducts and makes sheep sun sensitive, causing what is known as "yellow big head’’ as exposed skin swells.
A grazier near Horsham in western Victoria lost 100 lambs in a day because they ate too much of the grass.