PUTTING out mouse bait is all well and good, but it is getting the mice to eat the poison that is the difficult bit.
This is the view of CSIRO mouse management expert Steve Henry, who told growers at the Victorian Farmers Federation grains group conference earlier this week that strategic baiting, rather than higher levels of bait, was the key to good control.
"Getting the bait out there at the right time, when there is not too much other food out there, is critical in getting a good response," Mr Henry said.
In good news for growers, at this stage Mr Henry said a mouse outbreak response team, running via Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) funding, was not expecting a high mouse load this year.
"Mouse numbers are currently low across most regions of southern NSW, South Australia and northwest Victoria," Mr Henry said.
"At this stage, there is low potential for economic damage from mice damaging newly sown crops this year."
While there is unlikely to be a high mouse burden in paddocks this year, Mr Henry said the long-term trend was for increasing mouse numbers.
"We're seeing more mice out in the paddock under no-till systems, rather staying around the boundaries where there is cover, with stubble they can go out in the paddock itself."
He underlined the importance of growers sticking to legal products and rates.
"There are horror stories of people trying to come up with their own mouse bait and it is very dangerous, you just have to stick with what is on label."
In terms of efficacy, Mr Henry said there were many variable factors, such as mice's preference for cereals over lentils.
"Mouse preference is a big thing, in certain crops they will go for the bait, such as a lentil paddock, for instance, but in a cereal crop where there is grain available it can be hard to get them to take the bait."
He said timing was also critical.
"Immediately after harvest in 2016 growers estimated there was a tonne of grain a hectare left behind on the ground, which works out at around 6000 seeds a small metre, with this much grain about you are unlikely to get the mice to take the bait."
"With this in mind, straight after sowing when the paddock is still bare is a really good time to bait."