Targeting feral pigs across boundaries

Introduction

The Bathurst area of the Central Tablelands region is home to:  

• sheep and wool producers
• beef cattle farms
• crops such as canola and wheat
• private pine plantations and state forests.  

Farmers south of Bathurst have long struggled with pest animals including:

• foxes
• wild dogs
• feral pigs
• deer.

To protect their livestock, local landholders have worked together with Local Land Services' support to control foxes and wild dogs. As feral pigs became a growing problem, threatening farm productivity, the group expanded their efforts to tackle this new challenge. 

Challenge

Feral pigs are extensive in this region. The area has blackberry, reliable water sources, and a mix of crops and pastures, making it a prime habitat for feral pigs.

Landholders had been tackling the feral pig problem on their own, but their efforts weren’t making an impact. The feral pigs were: 

• tearing up pastures, reducing productivity and spreading weeds
• destroying crops like canola and wheat, leading to lower yields and profits
• preying on lambs, affecting sheep and wool production
• carrying disease risks that threaten both livestock and human health.

Feral pigs were forcing the farmers to change the way they manage their farms. It restricted sheep grazing in certain paddocks and changed the cropping rotation to prevent the production losses seen in previous years.

“We lost 35% of our wheat in the last couple of years and probably 10% of canola, which is roughly $150-160,000 worth of damage at the time.”  

- Mick Hewson

Solution

This landholder group had seen success with wild dog and fox control so turned to Local Land Services for additional support with feral pigs.

“The wild dog baiting program alone here should be enough to say that the feral pig one is going to work collectively. It worked for the dogs, it’ll work for the pigs, we just need to broaden the net.”

-  Mick Hewson

Local Land Services (LLS) Biosecurity Officers helped the farmers plan their approach by hosting a meeting to:

• identify the best control methods for the area
• pinpoint the ideal times for broadscale programs, aligning with farming operations and peak feral pig activity
• address barriers like equipment, training, and support.

Many farmers were unfamiliar with some control techniques, so LLS ran a hands-on workshop covering practical tips, such as:

• free feeding
• trap setup
• different trap designs and  
• baiting safety.

LLS supported the group to put their knowledge into practice with:

• free hire of trapping equipment
• grain for trapping and baiting programs
• biosecurity officer support for coordinating control programs with neighbours.

The group recognised that blackberry infestations were providing shelter for feral pigs, making weed control a priority.  

“We are going pretty hard on our blackberries, we are at all-out war with them actually. When we talk about hotspots on the property for where most pigs are and where most pig damage is, it’s in and around those blackberries.”  

- Mick Hewson

After careful planning, farmers chose baiting, trapping and aerial shooting as their main control strategies, conducting four aerial programs across the region.  

“With feral pig control, just trying to use one particular method will never control all of the pigs.”

-  Alistair Gordon-Smith

Outcomes

Supported by LLS, farmers are now to working together for more effective feral pig control and they are seeing the results. They came up with a plan for control that worked with their operational timelines.  

In summary, more feral pigs are being removed from the landscape, and the farmers are seeing far less damage to their crops, pastures and livestock.

The removal of blackberry from across the property is restricting the habitat for feral pigs. Exclusion fencing is helping reduce feral pigs entering the property and the coordinated baiting programs are impacting feral pig populations across the broader area.  

After seeing their lamb production increase, neighbours shared their baiting success stories with the group. This encouraged hesitant landholders to participate, strengthening the overall success of the broader control program.

This group is a great example of how landholders have driven the success of their control programs. They are working together to protect their farm productivity and livelihoods.

“If we hadn’t of started this landholder control group, I think we would just be suffering continual losses” 

- Mick Hewson

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Video transcript

Targeting feral pigs across boundaries

If we hadn't started this control group,

I think we would just be

suffering continual losses.

Through the winter time

is our peak period of pigs

really damaging the ground

and uprooting the ground

and hunting lambs and whatnot.

We probably lost 35% of our wheat

in the last couple of years

and probably 10% of canola, which is roughly

(at the time) $150,000

or $160,000 worth of damage.

Really hard

to put a figure on native pasture damage,

but I mean,

it just comes down to,

you go: “Well, that paddock -

I can no longer run 200 sheep in there

because it's all tore up

and there's no more grass left”.

My name's Mick Hewson.

I manage a property South of Bathurst.

We are a sheep breeding and cropping farm.

With feral pig control,

we've identified that

just trying to use

one particular method

will never control all the pigs

through there.

So in this particular scenario,

we have previously done

some aerial control

(to try and bring down the

broad scale numbers),

but obviously on the back end of that,

we're very reliant on landholders

doing further ground control.

And, primarily,

that's going to be through

baiting and trapping, and obviously

some ground shooting to sort of mop up

control, as well.

I’m Alistair Gordon-Smith.

I’m Senior Biosecurity Officer

with Central Tablelands

Local Land Services, based out of Bathurst.

When we run a meeting with the landholders,

we're talking them through

when's the ideal time

to be targeting feral pigs.

No-one knows their properties

as well as they do,

so it's really important

that it's a two-way conversation.

We really want the landholders

to be working as a group.

So, obviously pigs don't respect boundaries.

It makes it much easier

if everyone can be doing it.

We've probably started working

with LLS in the last 18 months,

I would say, roughly.

You know: how to bait, when to bait,

really helping out a lot more

about the trapping side of things.

So it’s been good in a sense,

to sort of learn and figure out

what's the best way

to approach getting these pigs.

The provision of subsidised grain

has been a great, great factor here.

It's just meant that people...

it's encouraged them to sort of

get on board and do a bit of free feeding,

whether that ends up

being for trapping or baiting purposes.

In some of the properties

that we've got around here,

there's some pretty heavy infestations

of blackberry through the area

and that's provided

a perfect harbour and a spot

where pigs will just...

just creating those hotspots where,

just the numbers will be much larger.

So, other control methods

that we put in place

is: we're currently spraying blackberries,

which is a main driver

for them to breed on farm.

Like, it's got to - that's just - has to go.

Not only for them, but

for us to re-use the farm

and obviously make money.

And exclusion fencing has been huge.

We've done 55km here on this place

and probably another 45km on another,

and it's an electric exclusion fence and

I think it's probably stopped

60% to 70% of the traffic

coming on the place.

It's certainly a very good deterrent.

The long term success

really comes down to the community

and how involved and how active they are

- if they have an interest in this

and they recognise

that this is a general biosecurity duty

that they need to undertake.

Going forward with the group,

I think we’ve just got to keep

talking to each other.

We’ve got to keep talking about the results

that we're getting,

and just keep sharing the information.

The LLS is great,

because they're talking to a lot of people

about what they're doing, and there’s

a lot of knowledge

coming back into the LLS,

which then can get shared to everyone else.

The dog baiting program alone

here, should be enough to say that

the pig one’s going to work collectively

because it worked with the dogs

and it’ll work on the pigs.

We just need to broaden the net.

And the more people

we have baiting and feeding these pigs -

even if we miss those pigs,

they'll walk on to the next place

already ready to eat grain.

Because they move around so much,

if we feed them here,

old mate might poison them next door.

So that's the benefit of it.

Obviously, as the impacts

and the cost to landholders grows,

that can often be a trigger point

for people getting involved.

The ongoing success really

does rely on landholders.

Ongoing work

This group continues to work together to keep feral pig numbers at low levels and stop repopulation. The group are continuing to meet with their local LLS biosecurity officer, ensuring their plan for controlling feral pigs remains relevant and effective for their farms.

“The long-term success really comes down to the community and how involved and how active they are.”  

- Alistair Gordon-Smith