Farmers in the New South Wales Riverina region are desperately trying to finish harvest to prevent mice and rats from moving in and destroying crops.

There has been an increase in rodent activity across south-eastern states recently, which is impacting farmers in Coleambally. 

Mixed farmer Michael Rosatto said the pests had been eating the perimeter of his corn crop.

"We're hoping it will stay that way and we can beat them as far as harvest and getting it off before any more damage occurs," he said.

"[We] keep getting rain events which are not all bad, but it's holding us up."

Mr Rosatto said he expected to lose up to 3 per cent of his crop. 

"No farmer wants to lose any percentage at this stage of his crop," he said. 

"He's got it through to this stage, to the finish, and the sooner we get it off the better."

Sunflowers also targeted

Agronomist Sam O'Rafferty said there had been moderate levels of mice damage in summer crops across the region so far this year. 

He said that was far less than the damage seen during the mouse plague in 2021. 

"If the loss two years ago was 20 per cent in bad circumstances, I would say this year it would be 5 per cent or less," Mr O'Rafferty said. 

As well as corn, the pests have been eating sunflowers. 

"It's pretty evident, the damage in the crop," Mr O'Rafferty said. 

"They will crawl up the stem of the plant, sit on the back of the head, reach around and pull grains out of the head, then feed on the kernel and leave husk all present."

Mr O'Rafferty said rain had reduced the effectiveness of baiting efforts and delayed planting and harvest, allowing time for more damage to be done.  

"Rain is extending the damage than what we've seen in other seasons where you have a really tight, fast harvest," he said. 

Mitchell Scifleet is a local farmer who managed to harvest his sunflower crop before too much was eaten. 

"On the header there was an enormous amount of mice in our sunflowers, this particular paddock had been baited," he said. 

"They were just jumping off the plants onto the ground, it was like a wave of mice." 

Concerns for rice

Mr Scifleet said he was concerned about mice getting into his rice, which he is preparing to harvest by draining water from the fields. 

He said mice typically worked their way in from the edges.

"Now this crop has been drained, I'm expecting that they will venture out further into the crop," Mr Scifleet said.

"While there's water on it they tend to just stick to the edges."

While Mr Scifleet expects mouse populations to die down slightly over winter, he does not think farmers will be out of the woods by then. 

"I'm still concerned about our winter crop sowing," he said.

"I just think with the abundance of feed around over the last few wet years, I'm not hopeful."

Source - https://www.abc.net.au