{"id":622848,"date":"2026-04-22T05:02:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T05:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/622848\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T05:02:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T05:02:15","slug":"farmers-fear-potential-mouse-plague-as-csiro-warns-of-high-numbers-for-sa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/622848\/","title":{"rendered":"Farmers fear potential mouse plague as CSIRO warns of high numbers for SA"},"content":{"rendered":"

If the cost of diesel and the lack of fertiliser were not enough, South Australia’s farmers are also facing the prospect of a mouse plague.<\/p>\n

With the traditional start to seeding coming up this weekend, growers around the state have been noticing an increase in the vermin.<\/p>\n

“Probably within the last month and a half, we’ve started seeing the odd one around the sheds,” said Matt Davey, who farms on the northern end of the Yorke Peninsula.<\/p>\n

It is an area the CSIRO has projected will experience “high” mouse numbers.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

According to the CSIRO’s March house mouse forecast, activity has been high in parts of the state. (Supplied: CSIRO)<\/p>\n

Mr Davey said mouse levels were already the worst he had seen in “four or five years”.<\/p>\n

“There’s more moisture around, which has probably allowed them to breed up, because the last few years have been so dry,” he said.<\/p>\n

As part of ongoing research, the CSIRO has been monitoring mouse populations on the Adelaide Plains since late last year.<\/p>\n

Research officer Steve Henry said the organisation had been seeing high numbers.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Steve Henry has been carrying out mouse bait trials on the Adelaide Plains. (ABC Rural: Isabella Kelly)<\/p>\n

“We would be seeing something in the order of, in some sites, 100 to 200 mice per hectare,” he said.<\/p>\n

“In those sites where we’re getting trap saturation, probably 400 to 600 mice per hectare.”<\/p>\n

No second chances<\/p>\n

Mice are never good news, but the risks they pose at seeding time are especially significant.<\/p>\n

“They’ll just find the furrow, dig along, and eat the seed as you’re putting it in,” Mr Davey said.<\/p>\n

“You get ‘UFO rings’ where around their holes there’s just nothing because they’ve eaten the grain, so that can thin the crop pretty well.<\/p>\n

“In plague levels, I’ve seen huge areas wiped out.”<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Matt Davey has started catching mice inside his family’s home. (ABC Rural: Isabella Kelly)<\/p>\n

Mr Henry said a plague was defined as 800 mice per hectare, but said farmers should already be taking action to prevent damage, including laying bait.<\/p>\n

“After [the seed] is gone, the plant is gone. There’s no replacing it,” he said.<\/p>\n

“And high-value crops like canola, we understand that seed is in short supply this year.<\/p>\n

“So, if you lose a whole heap of your canola crop, you probably won’t have the option to re-sow it.”<\/p>\n

Kadina-based agronomist Nathaniel Lloyd, who works at agribusiness YP Ag, said there had been an uptick in the sale of mice controls.<\/p>\n

“In the last couple of weeks we’ve started to really notice a lot more mice holes out in paddocks,” Mr Lloyd said.<\/p>\n

“Those numbers are starting to build up and it’s becoming front of mind for our seeding program that we get control so that we can have good establishment of our crops.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

The Davey family’s newest recruit \u2014 Oreo \u2014 has been doing his bit in managing the mice. (ABC Rural: Isabella Kelly)<\/p>\n

“It’s just another problem to deal with.”<\/p>\n

The business has been preparing for an increase in bait sales.<\/p>\n

“We’ve started taking forward orders, getting in touch with our suppliers as well and making sure that they’ve got good stocks in their sheds so there’s a smooth transition of bait from their sheds into ours, and then into farmers’ alike,” he said.<\/p>\n

More news from regional SABaby boom<\/p>\n

Mice can give birth to six to 10 babies every 19 to 21 days, so the paddocks where Mr Henry is catching 200 mice per hectare could soon be overrun.<\/p>\n

If you or anyone you know needs help:Suicide Call Back Service<\/a> on 1300 659 467Lifeline<\/a> on 13 11 14Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander crisis support line 13YARN<\/a>\u00a0on 13 92 76Kids Helpline<\/a> on 1800 551 800Beyond Blue<\/a> on 1300 224 636Headspace<\/a> on 1800 650 890ReachOut<\/a> at au.reachout.com<\/a>MensLine Australia<\/a> on 1300 789 978QLife 1800 184 527<\/a>“If you’ve got 100 females per hectare, it’s only three weeks before you’ve got 600 mice per hectare,” Mr Henry said.<\/p>\n

Record-breaking rain earlier this year after more than two years of drought conditions could be a contributor to the increase, Mr Henry said.<\/p>\n

“Historically, you tend to get high numbers of mice after more than 20 months of drier-than-average conditions, and then getting in-crop rainfall of more than 200 millimetres,” he said.<\/p>\n

“That seems to be the precursor that drives numbers up, and that’s exactly what’s happened in South Australia.”<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Steve Henry sounded the alarm late last year about a potential mouse plague. (ABC Rural: Isabella Kelly)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If the cost of diesel and the lack of fertiliser were not enough, South Australia’s farmers are also…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99,47449,301838,129126,301839,31881,269427,284545,301840],"class_list":["post-622848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-crops","tag-matt-davey","tag-mice","tag-nathaniel-lloyd","tag-plague","tag-seeding","tag-steve-henry","tag-yp-ag"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}