By Jeremy Cook
Warwick farmers have called for a concerted and unified response to bring rising populations of feral pigs under control.
Speaking in front of a room full of farmers last Thursday, Massie farmer Bill Bowen said any action needed to be swift.
“We really need to act quickly,” Mr Bowen said.
More than 60 farmers convened at Deuchar Massie Hall on 1 August with hopes of developing an action plan for managing feral pig numbers throughout the northern half of the Southern Downs.
It followed reports of increasingly widespread crop damage caused on farmland in the area.
One farmer estimated losses worth close to $10,000 from feral pigs just this year alone.
“[That’s] just on my small operation,” he told the meeting.
“That just blows you out of the water before you even start.”
The wild pest has become one of Australia’s most damaging invasive species. The Invasive Species Council estimates population numbers potentially in excess of 20 million across Australia with particularly high densities found in Queensland.
They spread invasive plants, prey on native species, degrade soil and water, damage crops and livestock and carry up to 60 exotic diseases.
They also breed at an alarming rate, putting pressure on current pest management strategies.
Part of the problem, as veterinarian Dave Brown said, was how pigs had adapted to farmland environments.
“They love wallowing, they don’t seem to get affected by unhygienic conditions…and they’re very very tenacious,” he said.
Mr Brown raised concerns about the risks they posed in spreading diseases like leptospirosis, brucellosis, campylobacter and salmonella. But he said exotic diseases like foot and mouth disease posed an even greater threat.
“The risk of disease spreading in Australia is high,” he said.
“But really the risk of disease spreading should we get these exotic diseases like rabies, rinderpest, foot and mouth is even worse and the economic impact is just not able to be mentioned.”
Exclusion fencing around crops and bounties were mooted as potential pest control solutions. Though the key takeaway was for any plans to involve widespread coordination between farmers.
Mr Bowen proposed developing a syndicate model where a group of landholders could pay a lump sum for a widespread aerial shooting operation covering each paying landholders’ property.
He argued current aerial shooting methods pose problems when organised by only a limited number of landholders.
“A critical issue is that…you really need the neighbouring landowners’ sign-off so that you can follow the pigs.
“If they split, you need to be able to follow them.
“So we need involvement from everybody really.”
Outcomes from the meeting will be formally presented to Southern Downs Regional Council ahead of a pest management advisory committee meeting later this month.
The council has previously faced calls to expand its pest management policies to place greater emphasis on feral pig control.
It comes as $1 million worth of grants became available under the state government’s latest round of Queensland feral pest initiative funding. The funding will be made available over three years to support feral pig control projects.
