Clean harvest cuts mice

With high numbers of mice across the state causing difficulties for many farmers, Mr Henry was concerned numbers could increase leading up to next year’s season.

“If climatic conditions are good and there’s a fair amount of food and shelter, they’ll continue to breed through summer and into the next autumn,” he said.

“Then the mice will be present as farmers prepare to sow the crops, and that’s where a lot of damage can take place.”

Mr Henry said minimising spilt grain and slowing the header down would reduce the amount of feed available to mice during the off-season. He also recommended allowing sheep to graze the stubbles.

“To reduce mice, it is about providing an environment that’s least favourable to minimise the potential for damage next season,” Mr Henry said.

For the past four years, Mr Henry has been monitoring the mice across Australia as a part of a project funded by GRDC.

Closely monitoring the Adelaide Plains and the Yorke Peninsula, Mr Henry said he had not previously seen mice at such high levels at this time of the year during the study so far.

He said throughout the season, he had received reports of damage to crops at varying stages of growth.

“Once the nodes start to fill in cereal crops, they become desirable for mice as food,” he said.

“The mice will climb the stem and chew into the stem just above the node, which weakens the stem, causing the heads to bust over, making them unavailable for harvest.

He said mice were not targeting grain in the head unless there was not enough food for them in the crop.

But strong winds on the YP earlier in November has also raised concerns in lentil crops, which had been desiccated prior to harvest.

Mr Henry said the wind caused pods to break off and fall onto the ground, potentially providing a significant amount of food for mice through until autumn.