 (Matthew Abbott/For The Washington Post) | By Rachel Pannett Colin Tink, 63, has been farming all his life and has never experienced a mouse plague like the one ravaging Australia's eastern grain belt. Nor a drought like the one that preceded it, which turned fertile crop areas into dust bowls. When the rains finally came last year, Tink thought his fortunes were changing. The rain led to bumper crops through the spring and summer months (September to March in the Southern Hemisphere). Silos are overflowing with grain. And barns are piled high with hay. Tink grew enough hay to feed his cattle for two years. Then the mice arrived. Thousands of them. Read more » More from The Post | Don't miss this offer Get a year of unlimited access for just $40. | | | | | 
