Farm Tender Daily

Farm Tender Daily - All the news from Tuesday, the 16th of July, 2024.

Click here to go to the Farmer Tender website.

By Dwain Duxson

Roo replies - I promised you that we would print some of the replies we had for the series of Kangaroo stories. They are in numbers like never before and are having a negative economic impact on Farmer’s businesses. See all the replies at the bottom of the page. It makes for some very interesting reading. Reply to [email protected]

The Farmers Club headlines - Our 3 topics tomorrow are:
1) Should we be airing out political allegiances publicly?
2) Relying on platforms to do better business. I’ve discovered Stripe.
3) As Farmers we are always striving for the best price. This is where our frustrations start.
The Farmers Club - Non-Commodity Thinking Sign up here for free.

Auction Wednesday - We have a Machinery and Equipment Auction starting at 8 am on Wednesday. See the link here.

Win a John Deere 6140M Tractor - Active Farmers are offering up a John Deere Tractor, valued at over $280,000. Go to the link here.

Today's Trends - Sales trends included GPS Equipment, Spreaders, Oaten Hay, UTV’s Wheaten Straw, Bale Feeders, Seeders, Wheat Seed, Oaten Straw, and a Disc Banker.

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Dwain Duxson
P - 0427 011 900
E - [email protected] 

What was listed today.

What was sold today.

• 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 🔥".

  • "Hi mate, I Farm on a property a few kms east of Broadford (Vic), and we are getting absolutely smashed here by Roos. The damage to fences and impacts on pastures just about makes my property unsustainable for running Cattle. I have never seen it this bad before (35 years). It's devastating watching large mobs of Roos moving across the hills of adjoining property and onto my place and then moving on. The road between Strath Creek and Broadford is littered with Kangaroo and Wombat carcasses, and the damage caused to vehicles by the wildlife must cost the public big dollars every year, but nobody seems to want to address the issue. Glad you're raising the issue now; good luck 🤞".

  • “Hi Dwain, I cannot emphasise enough the emerging catastrophe that the Kangaroo overpopulation in Central Victoria poses for Farmers and the general community. In summary, Kangaroo populations are at an all-time high in many parts of Victoria. Collisions with Kangaroos and vehicles are causing property damage, injury and deaths. A significant proportion of all panel beater work is related to Kangaroo collisions. As you stated in your article, Kangaroos now are applying devastating grazing pressure on already struggling pastures. They are also doing a lot of damage to fences and water supplies. Commercial harvesting of Kangaroos, which is the most practical and humane way of managing numbers, is under continual significant threat from animal welfare groups. Adidas in the USA have banned the use of Kangaroo leather in their sports shoes, and Kangaroo support groups are putting pressure on pet food manufacturers to cease using Kangaroo meat in their products (which is the main outlet for the commercial harvesting program). A group of Farmers in Mount Alexander Shire raised a petition to advocate that the Shire continue commercial harvesting. Prior to this a motion had been passed to ban Commercial Harvesting in the Shire. If you want to have a look at what the local Kangaroo Alliance support group is saying please look up their website at vickangas.org. It will provide an insight into what Farmers are up against”.

  • "Dear Dwain. About 57 years ago, my first boyhood income came from shooting and skinning Roos in far NW Queensland on a 286,000-acre cattle station. We had a serious contingent of Gatton Ag College vets on the station at the time, working on Brucellosis detection and eradication. The vets told me that the problem with Roos is that they conceive at least once a month, but use post-natal abortion to prevent the crawling foetus from reaching the pouch if:

    - They already had a joey

    - The season was bad

    - There were too many in the herd 

    So:

    - Culling them, just accelerated reproduction, 

    - Adding permanent watering points and clearing for pasture improvement, just accelerated reproduction

    - Cultivating Roo-edible Crops just accelerated reproduction

    The only way seems to restrict access to water, and then only if the only water is human-provided. You can teach Cows and Horses to push a simple barrier away from a water trough with their snouts, Roos won't. Roos also hate Dogs, while Cows, Sheep and Horses tolerate them. I had collected over 1,000 Roo skins over about a year, with no visible impact on numbers next year. PS  In the sixties, the Qld Dept of Primary Industry decreed that we had to experiment with Agriculture in NW Qld, on the Gulf of Carpentaria plains. We had about 80 ft of black topsoil but very irregular rain. My father simply bought the Equipment, put 400 acres under sorghum, and did not fence it. A veritable plague of Roos simply ate the shoots, and I was forbidden to shoot them. The Crop failed miserably, and we went (smiling) back to grazing Brahman crosses".

  • “Years ago had Cattle on agistment, and when the Bulls were out the Roos disappeared. They cost me thousands a year in lost productivity chewing off Crops that greenies tell us they won't eat (why is it thick with Roo poo??) and causing massive fence damage. We join crown land reserves and bluegums. The government impose the rules and won't contribute to the cost. All money is spent on bureaucrats and Melbourne's infrastructure. I'll just have to keep scaring them off with the odd accident”.

  • "Hey mate the roos around Bealiba in Central Vic are past plague proportions. We have spent over 100k on exclusion fencing and have got a thermal for the rifle. Our permit is for 80, but we can shoot that in 2 nights in a couple of hours. My old man said when he was around 20, now 64, it was a novelty to see one in the area. But now it's a novelty not to hit one in the ute on the way out to the Farm from town. Shit, they are bad. Love the newsletters". 

  • We live on a property 45k from Canberra on which we run a small Cattle business. We are surrounded by tree changers. As a result, much of the land around us is non-productive. The explosion of Roo numbers over the years is mind-boggling. I can recount testimony from locals now past,' that you could drive all night and be lucky to see one.' In the past, I went through the process of getting permits and shooting at night, but now I feel it's a lost cause. It's hard work. The only solution is to find markets and make the harvest of these animals monetarily attractive".

  • "Dwain, It's a nice change to see someone admit publicly and in writing that we have a roo problem. Where we are, the season has been good, but we are still frustrated with them. We have spent time and money on growing Sheep Feed only to have it eaten by these pests. And that is not to mention the damage they are doing to fences to access these Feed paddocks. It's time we ignored the green movement and their constant cries to protect everything and acknowledge that natives, too, can become pests by overpopulation. My belief is that we should be able to cull them without the effort of permits and tags. I can't think of a better solution, but I am keen to see what other responses you get".

  • "The only way to make the government take notice is a class action against NPWS. Many experts say Roos only eat less than Sheep; however, they forget roos take the pick of the pastures being saved for Livestock, so my thoughts are they eat as much as three times what livestock use; these estimates come from 50 years of living next to state forests and now National parks".

  • "The government needs to take notice of sensible Farmers who know that Kangaroos are in plaque numbers instead of listening to idiot green voters who have no idea what Farmers are dealing with and think that Roos will become extinct. Same as ducks and foxes".

  • “Hi Dwain, the season around the Walgett area is magnificent. The best winter in years, it started to rain in April and has been 300ml since; this follows 18 months of dry, where we only had 270ml for that period. Some Crops have been washed out and not all Cropping areas have been sown due to being too wet, but not a bad problem to have. Regarding the Roos, if the do-gooders had not wrecked the human consumption market years ago, the numbers would be much lower. Maybe they should be treated as a saleable commodity again, but I am not sure how to market the meat. Mind you, Kangaroos are low emitters of greenhouse gas, so all concerned townsfolk should do their bit for the environment and dine on roo steaks. Keep up the good work. If I get a Harvest this year, I might be able to afford to subscribe".

  • "I am going to start looking into fences to slow them down in certain paddocks, but I will have to keep shooting. In the last 2 years, I've switched to a thermal scope and monocular as the Roos pretty much disappear at the sight of a vehicle or spotlight around here. I now walk around in the dark with a tripod and blast away with them none the wiser (they do clear off eventually), safe to say it's been a game changer. The next biggest want for me is a Surpressor, although I have little doubt that I'll never be allowed to have one. If I could halve the noise, I wouldn't scare them away as quickly, and perhaps the best part was that I could get into paddocks closer to town without annoying anyone. Do I mention OH & S benefits for me? Unlike criminals, I would be more than happy to own one under licence and have to keep it locked away under the same conditions as any of my guns, also happy for police to come and inspect it as they do the random safe checks from time to time".

  • "Margins 30 years ago weren't massive but were respectable. Gross $700-1000 for a good night. Margins for that would be around $400-700. It wasn't a bad second job; it sucked when you'd work all day, shoot most of the night, get 1-2 hours sleep, and then back into a day of work. But hey, you do what you gotta do when things are tough. There is a slightly higher gross return now when you work it back to a per-head basis. The 2 main problems now, though, are increased input costs and quotas. Back then, I had a quota of 100hd/week whereas now there are some with as small a quota as 30-40hd/week due to a lack of overseas demand/contracts. You're spot on; they are falling greatly by the wayside (confirmed by the number of shooting racks/utes for sale the last couple of years)".

  • "I think that you've missed listing the elephant in the room... the absolute swarm of wild Pigs out there.... the Roos and Wombats are bad too... but the number of Pigs and the terrifying damage they are doing to our Farms is beyond words".

  • "I have 2700 acres, and I run about 2-2.5 thousand Sheep plus some Cattle. I reckon I run about 3000 Roos. There is no such thing as resting a paddock. I spoke to a bloke in his 80's. He lived on half of this place when he was a kid. He said that they used to shoot every weekend in winter on half this place and get about 70 Roos. He said it never made much difference to numbers. Don't even think about pasture improvement despite it taking the carrying capacity here from about 1 sheep/acre to closer to 10".

  • "In my own region (an hour and a half NW of Melbourne), this is becoming a significant issue. The local council Town Planning Department (headed by a Town Planner who is a resident of Melbourne) is currently considering joining a group of urban councils that are banning the shooting of Kangaroos. Overall, Kangaroo numbers are on the increase due to the COVID induced relocation of residents from Melbourne to our region. City folks are taking up old 20-acre Fruit blocks and then doing nothing. Instead, they are actively protecting Roos and other pest species. The paddocks around this property now play host to one of the largest Roo mobs in the region, and because of its location next to a significant road corridor, create a significant traffic hazard. The real problem, though, is for the fruit Farmers. As green feed is eaten out, the Roos are ring barking at the fruit trees, and expensive bird netting structures are being heavily damaged by the roos as they move around the orchards. Are property owners taking the law into their own hands?  I am aware that, in at least one circumstance, that is the case. I am also aware that one Grower has been given tags but told that under no circumstances is any of the meat to be harvested. What a stupid waste! And if the shire changes its rules, then those tags will be revoked. Sadly, the myth that Roos are endangered, which is actively propagated by activists, is shaping the policy decisions made in the cities by people who rarely go beyond the urban boundary - further pushing orchardists and other primary producers into potential civil disobedience".

  • "No simple answer that doesn't involve bloodshed here. In order to manage the land well and be profitable, Farmers will need to be illegal and work on not being caught. Pastoralists have had to deal with this issue for many years; it is a good thing that the issue is now shared".

  • "Unless all Farmers get Roo permits, they won't see it as a problem; it's getting much harder to obtain a permit. Don't be put off by it. They also don't give as many numbers as they used to, so you need to cull the number given, give or take and reapply"

  • "I've got an intermittent problem with numbers, so I applied to the National Parks for a permit to shoot/cull some. They have given me "A Permit to Harm", it's only good for 6 months and a number stipulated. It allows X bodies to be found on my place. It replaced the old tag system. When I questioned the word "harm" was told not allowed to use the word "shoot or kill" because of fear of repercussions from certain sectors in the community". 

  • "I'm a Berry Farmer from SA mate, and I can tell you this year the Roos have done more damage to our 1st year fresh plantings than I've ever seen before, entire hectare patches chewed to the ground, some ripped clean out of the poly mulch. We have zero chance of controlling them with a destruction permit for 7!! I need a permit for 70! This is going to be a battle on top of the endless shitstorm we've already endured since covid. I'm trying blood and bone and D-ter next to see if it works. My hopes are not high just thought I'd let you know this problem is all over in every outdoor Farming industry. I'm glad your reporting on it".

  • "Regarding your article on Kangaroos, here on King Island, we have been battling Bennett's Wallabies even though the loss of production has been measured at over 8 million dollars a year. The government only gives token support as it is too scared of voter backlash. We have been in the word drought since the federation drought. The Wallabies are getting the first green pick as it came out, so how do you build a feed wedge? Most boundary fences that adjoin native vegetation are wallaby fences, but we probably still need to shoot 100 thousand a year to hold ground and the destruction of native vegetation they also cause. Good luck. With Roos. I won't mention Bush Tail Possums/Swans/Peacocks/Mountain Ducks/ Turkeys. All wanting first pick. 👍👍".

  • "Hi Dwain. Kangaroos are a problem, but the Pigs are also becoming a large problem in Western/Central West NSW. Pigs are now appearing where there have been no Pigs in the past. The wet for the last few years has been a bonus for their breeding. Unless there is a concerted effort on the part of all Landholders this will escalate. LLS has been conducting aerial shooting, but it is merely a flash in the pan as the numbers are truly unimaginable. Urgent attention is needed to this problem. I will be interested to note the response of your followers".

  • "Caucasian Shepherds are ridiculously expensive, and Maremma pups are generally quite cheap. Considering that they do the same job, the price difference couldn't be justified, but I love these guys now that I've experienced owning them. Our neighbours across the road have a large mob of Kangaroos that travel around here and get into the crops, but they don't come onto our property anymore since the dogs grew big enough".

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