Mouse plague threatening Western Australia’s billion-dollar grain crop as numbers explode

Scientists have warned a mouse plague could threaten $1bn wroth of grain crops in Western Australia if urgent action is not taken.

Farmers have found about 4000 burrows per hectare in crops stretching from parts of the Mid-West, Wheatbelt and Goldfields-Esperance in Western Australia.

CSIRO research officer Steve Henry said there were significantly high numbers of mice running wild through the Western Australian cropping zone with some paddocks were seeing up to 8000 mice per hectare.

“That’s a really, really serious situation,” he told radio station 6PR.

Mr Henry said farmers were starting to be aware that mice were all over the place while they were preparing to sow crops and needed to take action before the mice ate freshly sown seeds.

“They just go along the rows of sowing seeds and pull out every seed that’s been sown and eat it,” he said.

“A significant impact on yield, particularly in crop like canola, where once the plants gone, that’s a that’s a significant loss to the farmer.”

WA Farmers chief executive Trevor Whittington said it was one of the worst outbreaks that was threatening $1bn worth of grain production.

Mr Whittington said the plague was impacting cereal crops including wheat, barley, canola and anything else that was being planted.

“It’s about to get an awful lot worse because of the cyclonic rain they’ve just received,” he said.

“It’s still warm, numbers are already incredibly high and they’re going to explode again.

“Farmers have just started feeding, their first germination will be within days, and there won’t be anything else to eat.

“It’s a major concern.”

Mr Whittington said farmers were unable to access a high strength bait called ZP-50 without approval from federal authorities.

Combined with other issues arising from the fuel crisis, fertiliser shortages and low grain prices, Mr Whittington said it was another compounding issue affecting farmers throughout Western Australia.

He said farmers needed a federal exemption to access mouse bait but they were stuck waiting for a decision.

“It’s come at the worst possible time, it’s just one more problem growers don’t need,” he said.

Farmer Belinda Eastough said after years of good harvests and bigger crops more grain was left behind creating more shelter and food for mice.

She said the conditions had been favourable for mice and they had been breeding since spring creating really huge numbers.

Ms Eastough said baiting was the only option available to growers and is was the responsibility of the property owner to manage the problem.

“If they’ve got the bait available to them and they’re able to spread the bait … they can generally minimise the impact,” she said.

“Although, if there’s a lot of other food in the system, the bait that’s currently available to them is less effective,” she said.

“It’s a matter of mice finding two or three grains of the toxin to get a lethal dose and if there’s a lot of other food in the system, the chances of them finding those grains are reduced.”

Ms Eastough said the last time they had a mouse plague farmers in the area were catching about 40 mice a day inside their homes.

“It’d be great to see another emergency payment, we need to have them,” she said.