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'It's like a decaying body': Australia farmers battle mouse plague
bbc.
Farmers in Australia are facing a serious problem with mice. Large numbers of these rodents are destroying crops and running into homes. This crisis happens at a hard time for agricultural workers. They are already struggling with high costs for fuel and fertilizer. These rising prices are linked to conflicts in the Middle East. Farmers must now pay more to run their farms. At the same time, they must fight the mice. This double burden costs them hundreds of thousands of dollars. They spend money to replant eaten crops. They also pay for time spent laying poison bait. This work is exhausting and hurts their mental health.
Geoff Cosgrove runs a large farm in Western Australia. He grows wheat, canola, and barley. He says the mice play with your mind. They run through ceilings and air conditioning units at night. You can hear them and smell them. It feels like a decaying body is nearby. Cosgrove has farmed for twenty-five years. He has only used poison bait twice before. This year is much worse than the plague in 2021. In 2021, mice caused damage in New South Wales. They damaged a jail so badly that prisoners had to move. The facility was unsafe for everyone.
Belinda Eastough farms in Western Australia. She remembers the last mouse plague well. Back then, mice were in her handbag and walls. This year, the mice stay in the fields. This is because there was a record harvest last year. The harvest left spilled grain in the fields. This gave the mice a lot of food. Summer rain helped too. The rain made green shoots grow. The mice had steak and salad. They were in absolute heaven. Eastough grows wheat for noodles and bread. She estimates there are 8,000 to 10,000 mice per hectare. A hectare is about the size of a rugby field. The mice have not stopped reproducing. She calls this living in a nightmare.
Autumn is a key time for planting crops. Eastough advises farmers to bait fields quickly. If they wait, mice will eat the seeds. Farmers might finish planting and find empty rows the next day. The mice consumed the seeds overnight. Farmers are resilient people. But high fuel and fertilizer costs hurt them deeply. Diesel prices have doubled recently. The mouse plague is another heavy headache. It adds to their stress and financial loss.
Steve Henry studies mice for CSIRO. This is Australia’s national science agency. He says a plague has 800 mice per hectare. In Western Australia, there are thousands per hectare. Henry walked a short path and found many burrows. Farmers multiply this number to estimate the total. They found thousands of burrows in one area. This is a monumental problem. Mice breed very fast. They can start breeding at six weeks old. A female can have ten babies every twenty days. She can get pregnant again just days after giving birth. Henry notes the mental toll is severe. Farmers cannot escape the mice inside their homes. They run on beds and in cupboards.
Farmers waited for stronger poison bait. The regulator recently approved it. Retired farmer Damian Ryan is happy. He caught thirty mice in his house daily. He caught 150 in his shed. He has farmed for fifty years. He says he has never seen this bad. Driving at night, he saw mice everywhere. However, weather might help. Cooler temperatures and rain are forecast. These changes can reduce mouse numbers. Cosgrove hopes winter will bring relief. He says the mice stop when it gets too cold and wet. The mice may finally leave the farms alone. This would help farmers recover from their losses.