However, the council hopes all properties with an identified rabbit problem will have an approved management plan in place to reduce numbers by the October deadline.
"We'll be working with landholders so as many as possible meet the strategy requirement," regional services group manager Jeff Donaldson said.
The council's pest management strategy was implemented in 2009 with a reduced maximum allowable limit of rabbits on a property (MAL3) and landowners were given three years to meet the target.
Chairman Stephen Woodhead said it was concerning the deadline would not be met but the council "always knew it would be a tough target to meet".
"The target was and is achievable. For the long-term sustainable management of rabbit-prone areas, we need to get rabbit-prone areas down to or below MAL3."
The reason the lower MAL3 limit was chosen was because it meant farmers could control rabbit numbers without using costly poisoning operations needed when numbers got to the point of "explosion", he said.
If properties were assessed to be above the limit, the landowner was asked to provide the council with a plan to reduce numbers. If they failed to follow the plan, the council issued a notice of direction for the work to be done straight away. If it was not, the council could put the work out for tender and recover the costs from the landowner.
Mr Donaldson said there were more than 50 management plans in place throughout the region, mostly in Central Otago, although there were some on Otago Peninsula.
About eight properties were under a notice of direction but the council had not yet had to put any work out for tender.
Some parts of those properties had reached the much higher rabbit level of MAL7.
How many landholders would be in that position in October was too hard to estimate, as some might have finished their management plans while others might be just starting, he said.
Landholders under management plans who did not comply by October would face notices of direction, while landholders who had populations discovered after the date would be required to go through the management plan process.
On the Otago Peninsula, poisoning could not be done last year because there was too much grass growth for rabbits to take the bait. Another attempt would be made this year.
Poisoning operations were also being planned on parts of the Pigroot and the StrathTaieri.
In areas where there had been high rainfall and grass growth, such as Maniototo, disease had infected the rabbit population, reducing numbers, but that was not enough on its own to control the population, Mr Donaldson said.
While most farmers were aware of the problem, younger landholders who "did not know how bad it can get" were being "assisted" to understand how important it was to control rabbit numbers before they got too high, he said.
