Mouse populations grow across Victoria

As other states deal with their worst mouse plagues in decades, CSIRO lead mouse researcher Steve Henry said it was important to understand mice from neighbouring states were not being pushed into Victoria.

He said however, the real concern was focused on Victoria's current mouse population and the possibility of it increasing in high densities.

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"I can unequivocally say that the mice litter in northern NSW will not come to Victoria," he said.

"The conditions have become favourable for mice right across the cropping zone, so the mice that were already there in undetectable levels are starting to breed and become obvious."

Mr Henry said the biggest issue the region's farmers were now facing was protecting their winter crop.

"Generally in the autumn it is the time when mice have the potential to be at their highest population because they start breeding in the spring," he said.

"If conditions are favourable like what we are seeing now, they may continue to breed through the summer and into the autumn.

"So we might start to see them in really high numbers and that is concerning for the winter crop."

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It is understood there are some areas in western Victoria that are currently facing increased mouse numbers.

Mr Henry said he was also getting reports from concerned farmers across a broader area including Echuca.

"We are becoming particularly concerned if mouse numbers continue to rise then they could cause some problems," he said.

Mice start breeding when they are six weeks old and they can have a litter of 6-10 pups every 19-20 days.

Mice can damage newly sown crops by eating the sown grain and can cause some damage around harvest. Anecdotally, mice have been seen around lentil, barley and grain crops.

Mr Henry said he was not aware of bait shortages in Victoria, but some farmers in NSW were waiting up to five weeks for bait.

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An Agriculture Victoria spokesperson said it was aware of reports of increased mice populations in some parts of the state.

"Agriculture Victoria is currently aware of some parts of the state where there are patches of increased mice populations, but this is not currently widespread," the spokesperson said.

"Agriculture Victoria is closely monitoring the situation and supporting farmers with management advice."

National Mouse Group chair and Ouyen farmer Ian Hastings said the issue was sporadic.

"It's a paddock-by-paddock situation, or occasionally it is a town or surrounding area that is having the issue," he said.

"In the general farming area, you can have almost no mice at all in one paddock and the next paddock can have extremely high numbers so it's all about the amount of materials produced in each paddock.

"This isn't looking like it will be a massive issue, we just need to make sure the population stays low."

Mr Hastings said most farmers were aware of the possibility of a plague, but were organising supplies and implementing strategies to deal with it.

"There is ample bait available in Victoria, lots of our bait does get sourced from South Australia, there are a number of different options that will satisfy the needs of Victorian farmers," he said.

Farmers can subscribe to Mouse Alert, which shares mouse activity here and on Twitter.

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