The Kangaroo Problem - Your replies

We did a story on Kangaroos and how they were possibly over populated. See that story below and then under that see all the replies:

By Dwain Duxson.

How do we shoo the Roos? - Kangaroos are becoming a big problem. We are hearing from many Farmers who are having problems with Roos, some that have never really had a problem in the past. These pests are inflicting some damage, which is more noticeable when the season is tight like it is this year in spots.

From devouring locked up Pastures to chewing away at Crops they are eating into Farmers margins. One Farmer said to me today that he has had Lambing paddocks locked up only to be eaten out by a couple of hundred Roos. Which has been pretty devastating.

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And he has taken his permit right and has done some culling and noticed that 80 percent of the ones he has shot have been male for some reason.

So where to now, how do we deal with the problem that is getting out of hand? Can we, or are we allowed to bring the numbers back to a more manageable level? Are they becoming a bigger problem for you? Do you have an opinion on what needs to be done to address the problem so that Farmers can regain control? Reply to dwaind@farmtender.com.au

End of message

See some of the replies we got below:

• "Hi Dwain. As you know, I am not far from your place. I have seven kilometres of frontage to COLIBAN Water land and because of the current water level, there is nothing to stop the invasion of Kangaroos onto my property. I currently have 50-100 most mornings and nights, and very difficult to cull because as soon as they hear my buggy, they are back on COLIBAN Water land, and I am told I can't shoot vermin on their Land even though they have been on my oat crop. It makes you wonder why you bother"

• "A 670 acre paddock with about 700 Sheep has more Roo shit than Sheep shit, not the first time this has happened".

• "Hi Dwain, Professional (meat) shooters prefer females because those are suitable for human consumption (like male Goats, the boys stink). We gotta shoot 'em. Process as much meat as possible rather than leave it to rot, but that is hard with all the animal libbers. In flatter country, exclusion fencing is economical where neighbours can form collective blocks or where Farms are large and square in overall shape. Governments have talked about subsidies for exclusion fencing. I wish that would pull their fingers out and offer a 1 for 1 price subsidy for that".

• "Hi Dwain, Professional (meat) shooters prefer females because those are suitable for human consumption (like male Goats, the boys stink). We gotta shoot 'em. Process as much meat as possible rather than leave it to rot, but that is hard with all the animal libbers. In flatter country, exclusion fencing is economical where neighbours can form collective blocks or where Farms are large and square in overall shape. Governments have talked about subsidies for exclusion fencing. I wish that would pull their fingers out and offer a 1 for 1 price subsidy for that".

• "I think some points need to be made. Roos are not feral pests such as Pigs, Deer, Foxes, Camels, Rabbits, etc, but seem to be bundled into the same category. Roos are native wildlife, so if you own Land, what is a reasonable level of Roo activity should you carry? In today's day and age Farmers, (of which I am one, in western NSW, and I don't subscribe to catastrophic man-made climate change), we can't have the attitude of my Land, and I'll do what I want. I have had to cull in plague conditions, but I know a lot of cockys that 1 Roo is a plague, 20 in a 500ha paddock needs sorting out, and it's bloody nonsense. It's entrenched attitudes, and I don't think it will fly going forward. I do think work needs to be done to help Farmers to coexist with Roos, so they have options other than culling. I also think that the research needs to be funded by levies placed on the Roo meat industry. I had the same attitude as a lot of people, but after years of watching a monitoring them in our local area, my thinking has changed, and with the pressures being applied from multiple angles, I'm actually quite concerned for them".

• "Hey mate. Interesting to hear other people are having problems with Roos as well. I know between me and four farmers next to us, we have shot over 1000 this year so far and haven't made a dent. But it's not just Roos. The Ducks are in massive numbers, too. We would have nearly 50 on every dam. And they have eaten the best part of a HA of Crop around each dam. And out at Peechulba way, the cockatoos can cast shadows over half a paddock, flying around in Mobs of what I can only assume to be 2000 plus. It could be a full-time job here at the moment. Our Roo shooter took 1500 kg last month alone. It's never-ending. And the Corellas in Yarrawonga around the GrainCorps bunkers are ludicrous. I saw the side of a Canola bunker one day, pretty much white with bird poo". 

• "G'day Dwain, Regarding the Kangaroo problem, in the southeast of SA and some parts of Western Vic, the Roos coming out of pine plantations and blue gum forests have to be seen to be believed. None of the corporations that own these plantations do anything to alleviate the problem. They are decimating pastures and crops, and they sit back and do nothing".

• "They are in plague proportions. Something needs to be done to reduce numbers"

• "How do we shoo the Roos? As you are aware, they use exclusion fencing up here. The whole boundary has a 6-foot fence around the property, so all the kangaroos that are inside the fence are basically born and bred here. There are no dams. The only way they can get access to water is to drink from the troughs. Adrian had a couple of shooters here, and they shot 690 kangaroos in two days. As you drive around the paddocks here, you would not have thought they have shot that many. There are Kangaroos everywhere, and I reckon a third of the carrying capacity of this country is taken up by kangaroos within Adrian's fencing. They have 50,000 acres".

• "Hi Dwain, Interesting your point about the Roo numbers. I feel I can give an honest insight into this topic as when we had country back out west; I also shot Roos as a 2nd job on the side for 6 years (droughts are wonderful things!) The lack of margins in the Roo shooting industry is a massive factor, as everyone else is also, the shooters are facing higher input costs and they are not recieving adequate remuneration to make it worthwhile. Put this on top of the fact that, due to the lack of demand for the meat overseas, they are put on weekly quotas, then it just compounds the struggle to make ends meet in the industry".

• "Hi Dwain, Interesting your point about the Roo numbers. I feel I can give an honest insight into this topic as when we had country back out west; I also shot Roos as a 2nd job on the side for 6 years (droughts are wonderful things!) The lack of margins in the Roo shooting industry is a massive factor, as everyone else is also, the shooters are facing higher input costs and they are not recieving adequate remuneration to make it worthwhile. Put this on top of the fact that, due to the lack of demand for the meat overseas, they are put on weekly quotas, then it just compounds the struggle to make ends meet in the industry".

• "G'day Dwain. Although we call them Roos down here (Flinders Island), we don't really have Roos. We do have the Bennetts Wallabies, though. As you mentioned, they are becoming a problem and even more so with the recent conditions. We're about 100mm short YTD on rain, and that's after a dry spring and extended dry through summer, autumn and early winter! The wildlife is rife. I counted 47 wombats out in broad daylight, directly across the drive from my father-in-law's place! It was on unused/abandoned Farmland, and I was only looking in the 30-odd-acre paddock directly in front; there was that again on either side, and the same said for the broader district! Many Farmers on the Island have installed "Roo" proof fencing, which puts extra pressure on the neighbours, who mostly, eventually, give in to do the same! Most shoot or hire a shooter; many thousands shot, but the numbers are multiplying faster! We are in a situation where the state and local government acknowledges it and is proactive with permits, etc. But also leaning on the scales of appeasing the Green voter and at the same time promoting us as a tourist destination! You can't have too many carcasses lying around! I've recently had a complaint that a local wildlife warrior can't drive down the road because she is too upset! I don't enjoy doing it, but my Cows are underweight directly as a result of over-browsing! Our stocking rate is 50% of the potential. We are coming into Calving, and they are in plague proportions, I'm talking thousands just on our lease! The shit on the ground is nearly touching! We have the fencing, but they and the wombats dig under, even with an electric hot wire at ground level! It's no task to shoot 100's a night! I estimate the first night I went out in years; there were approx 700 inside our "fenced" area of 100 acres! We keep filling in holes and shooting, and it's around 150 head I see inside at night now! Look over the fence to the neighbours and there are 1000's. For perspective, my grandfather was a commercial cray fisherman, and they moved up to their little farm there around 50-odd years ago! They often used Wallaby as cray bait; they struggled to find any and had to drive about 15 km to their other property to get bait! They'd need about a dozen; now you can get that out the back door when grabbing an arm full of wood from the barrow