With experts forecasting another outbreak of mice this autumn, farmers are encouraged to attend one the workshops to get a picture of current mouse numbers and to hear about tactics to minimise mouse damage to this season’s crops.

CSIRO mouse specialist Steve Henry, who will speak at each of the workshops, said mouse numbers were currently higher than usual and problems were anticipated at cropping time.

“Mouse numbers have been building since the strong harvest in 2016,” Mr Henry said.

“That carried through to winter in 2017 and numbers were already high when breeding started again in spring.

“It’s very concerning.”

Mr Henry said a mice plague was looming for farmers this season and they needed to act now to stymie breeding.

He said mouse numbers in southern New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australian were currently higher than they would normally be at this time of year.

With stubble burning now understood to be ineffective in significantly reducing mouse numbers, Agriculture Victoria land management extension officer Heather Drendel said it was important for farmers to hear about the control best options available to them.

“Tactics to manage mice pre-sowing, during sowing and in-crop will be part of the update with information on a range of integrated tactics,” she said.

Mice have been causing problems in the area for some time now, with Wimmera farmers forced to continue baiting for mice as late as October last year, as yield potential plummeted. Mr Henry said it was “unusual” for mouse numbers to be that higher so late in the year.

Mouse updates will be held this week at Underbool Recreation Reserve on Thursday at 7.30pm; Hopetoun Recreation Reserve on Friday at 3.45pm; and Kalkee Recreation Reserve on Saturday at 7pm.