Ring-barked tree

On a walk this afternoon I saw this long dead gum tree. I remembered being told by a local farmer that in his father's time the government told graziers that gum trees inhibited the growth of grass and so competed with stock for water. There was a ratio, ten sheep for every gum tree or something like that. So many gum trees were ring-barked. Thank god those ideas have changed, but there are still a few areas with only old gum skeletons and no young trees.