Harvest actions could prevent mice pain

Pest experts are encouraging growers to harvest as cleanly as possible and practice good farm hygiene, especially near grain storage facilities, to reduce the availability of food for mice.

Lead researcher Steve Henry, CSIRO, says food resources left in paddocks after harvest could sustain mouse breeding and lead to higher mouse numbers when next year's winter crops are sown.

"Given it has been a variable season right across the grain belt, we know that many growers will be conscious about getting as much grain as possible into the silos so that will certainly help to reduce the potential for any build-up in mouse populations," he said.

"We also recognise that some crops may not be harvested at all, and in those situations it would be advisable to consider using livestock where possible to remove potential food for mice."

Mr Henry, who recently completed a spring monitoring exercise with his colleague Wendy Ruscoe, says mouse numbers remain low across all grain-growing regions in Australia, largely because of the continuing dry conditions in many parts.

"In SA, mouse numbers are low across the northern Adelaide Plains, the Mallee, Eyre and Yorke peninsulas, while the situation is similar in Vic where abundance is low in regions, such as the Mallee and Wimmera," he said.

"In northern, central and southern NSW, there has been no mouse activity, while numbers in Qld are very low throughout the Darling Downs and around Goondiwindi.

"In WA, mouse abundance is also at a low level."

Mr Henry says to further assist with monitoring efforts, a new benchmark site and a further 10 rapid assessment sites have been set up at Parkes, NSW, by the NSW Department of Primary Industries.

Benchmark sites at Mallala, Walpeup, Vic,, the Darling Downs, Qld, and now Parkes in NSW involve the collection of live trapping data for use in population modelling.

Quantitative rapid assessment sites involve the use of mouse chew cards and assessment of active mouse burrows.

In addition, qualitative monitoring networks comprising farmers and agronomists in 11 local areas assist in the gathering of regional mouse population and activity intelligence.

RELATED READING: Dog fence study shows cat population decline

Croppers warned about mouse complacency

Mr Henry says mice started to breed in early spring and numbers are expected to slowly increase through the remainder of spring and summer to reach a peak in late autumn 2020.

Mouse numbers are not expected to rise enough to cause any problems for 2020 sowing programs.

In the meantime, he encouraged growers to actively monitor mouse activity via chew cards or active burrow counts, as isolated patches of higher mouse activity could occur where conditions are favourable.

"I urge growers to report and map mouse activity - presence and absence - using MouseAlert (mousealert.org.au) so other growers can see what activity is being observed in their neighbourhood and via Twitter using @MouseAlert," he said.

Mr Henry reminded growers that weather events, such as hail, intense wind and late spring or early summer rains that can that damage mature crops and also produce a flush of summer weeds, could contribute to mouse food sources across summer.

The GRDC's major mouse-related research, development and extension program is continuing to reveal new insights about mice in Australian broad acre cropping systems.

As part of the suite of GRDC investments, CSIRO researchers have been undertaking bait substrate trials to determine what is driving a perceived reduction in efficacy of zinc phosphide bait and testing potential new bait substrates that might be more attractive to mice.