Critics warn feral pig controls are failing, costing farmers more than $100m
Oberon farmer Bruce Fulton says feral pigs are damaging about 1.5 hectares of his property a day. (Supplied: Bruce Fulton)
In short:
Feral pigs have torn up hectares of agricultural land on a property in Central West NSW.
Dry conditions and a lack of food are forcing pigs onto farms.
What's next?
The Invasive Species Council says about 85 per cent of pigs in any one area must be removed to stay on top of the population.
After an extended dry spell, farmers across inland NSW are reporting significant damage to their paddocks due to feral pigs.
In Australia, feral pigs are estimated to number more than 20 million, according to the Invasive Species Council, and the animals cost farmers more than $100 million a year.
Bruce Fulton, a cattle farmer in Oberon, on the NSW Central Tablelands, said he had about nine hectares of land destroyed by the invasive species in a matter of days last month.
"We have had pig numbers in the past, but I haven't seen them this bad," Mr Fulton said.
"They have done substantial damage in the paddocks I grow hay in … [they make] deeper divots so the ground is no longer as level as it used to be."
Bruce Fulton says pigs have been tearing up his property for weeks. (Supplied: Bruce Fulton.)
Mr Fulton said it was a major concern in early winter because he had been relying on harvesting grass to feed his livestock.
"It damages the pasture so that there's no actual pasture growing in the areas that they've dug up, and it makes it more susceptible to weed invasion," he said.
A spokesperson for the state's Local Land Service (LLS) said in a statement that feral pig movement had become more pronounced across the Central Tablelands due to dry conditions.
The spokesperson said the weather had forced the pigs to compete with livestock for food and water, as well as forage for protein sources in the colder weather.
The damage stretches across Bruce Fulton's pasture paddocks. (Supplied: Bruce Fulton)
In recent weeks, LLS undertook two aerial control programs in Central West national parks, including one bordering Mr Fulton's property. More than 1,400 pigs were culled.
While pig activity briefly eased down, Mr Fulton said in the past few weeks it had increased significantly on both his and his neighbours' properties.
Multifaceted approach
Mr Fulton has set up more traps but he doubted how effective they would be.
"Normally, what we do is, we put out some grain before a trap … and it encourages them to come back," he said.
"But sometimes they're smart. Sometimes they don't come back. Sometimes they'll eat the grain that's outside the trap.
"They're quite intelligent creatures in that way."
Since July, 2023, the NSW government has invested $40.4 million in the Feral Pig and Pest Program.
This includes coordinated aerial culling, trapping and baiting programs, with free grain and bait incentives available to landholders.
Feral pigs were introduced by early settlers and now inhabit almost half the continent. (Supplied: Dr Christopher O'Bryan)
The LLS estimates the program has dealt with about 846,000 feral pigs across NSW in three years.
However, Invasive Species Council CEO Jack Gough said it was clear the system was not working.
"The NSW pig program is the textbook example of how not to do feral animal control," he said.
"That's because it's ad hoc, it's thinly spread across the landscape, it's short-term funding cycles. There's no real strategy behind it.
"All of that together means we really have been failing."
The removal of 85 per cent of feral pigs in any area is needed to ensure numbers are kept down, according to the Invasive Species Council.
CEO of the Invasive Species Council, Jack Gough. (Supplied: Invasive Species Council)
Mr Gough said multiple control methods were needed in the fight against the invasive species.
"When you've got that control across the landscape using that full array of control tools — so baiting, aerial shooting, ground shooting, trapping, all together — then you can start to see declines in the density of pigs," he said.
"The bad news with feral pigs is that, really, the control of feral pigs comes down to mother nature.
"Unfortunately, pigs breed so quickly that we don't have good examples of being able to really drive population numbers down in good seasonal conditions."