WITH the advent of a mice plague in parts of the WA Wheatbelt, it is to be hoped the lessons learnt in South Australia and New South Wales over the last couple of years have been heeded.
The first lesson was to discover that the poison of choice, Zinc Sulphide, is considered too dangerous for farmers to handle, so farmers may only purchase the pre-mixed commercial product.
The second lesson was to discover that the poison can only be mixed with sterilised grain, so that weed seeds or unwanted grain varieties are not introduced into the affected paddocks.
The seed was sterilised by the company that sterilised implements for Melbourne hospital, perhaps why adding $500-$600 worth of Zinc Phosphide to a tonne of grain produced a mixture that sold for $10,000/tonne.
In 2011, Australia ran out of Zinc Phosphide and the mice had a free run for three weeks, although it turned out that WA farm chemical company, 4Farmers, had a supply, but it wasn't registered for use.
As a farmer, Phil Patterson, 4Farmers managing director, could see the obvious solution to the problem of using sterilised seed, farmers mixing the poison with their own grain.
"Farmers have been handling Phostoxin (Aluminium Phosphide), for many years and basing its toxicity on the LD50 measure, this product is six times more toxic than Zinc Phosphide," he said.
"To add to the conundrum, the directions on a container of Zinc Sulphide state that the product is a domestic rat killer, and housekeepers are told to mix the active with edible oil and food stuff to make their own baits.
"This means that the licensing authorities must believe that a product that is safe to mix in the house is too dangerous for experienced farmers to use in paddocks."
So, who decided that the poison must be mixed only with sterilised seed when used on-farm?
It seems that the guidelines were drawn up by the GRDC.
Rather than a nuisance in a farm kitchen, mice are real dollar eaters, with one of 4Farmers' clients in SA losing $500,000 worth of crop to mice in 2011, not surprising considering that 200 mice eat as much as a sheep, with 1000 mice a hectare consuming five percent of a crop in one night.
To solve the problem in NSW last year, 4Farmers arranged for enough registered Zinc Phosphide to be flown in from India to make 60 tonne of bait, which sold for $2500/t.
Much of it was sold through the Walbundrye Co-op, 50km north of Albury, NSW, so some of the locals decided to come to the west and check out the home of 4Farmers.
But, 16 months later, has 4Farmers received registration for its Zinc Phosphide?
"Last week, Mr Patterson said, but only if mixed by a licensed operative."
A straight forward problem for National Farmers Federation and its affiliates to tackle, if only they considered it important.
