Feral pigs running amok in NSW as farmers want more done to fix the problem

Farmers have revealed the biggest issue facing them, with one farmer saying there’s a 130kg razorback boar watching him.

Farmer Grant Prendergast knows there is a big back razorback boar on his property and it is watching him.

Feral pigs numbers have boomed since the end of the drought to become one of the biggest problems confronting NSW farmers today.

“Everyone is scared of them,” Mr Prendergast from Orrabah Station near Retreat said. “There is a big black 130kg razorback boar and I know he is watching me.”

The boar is the biggest in a herd of thousands of disease carrying feral pigs that have infested grazier Mr Prendergast’s 2000 acre property an hour from Tamworth.

“Pigs are highly intelligent and adaptive. If you shoot one from a helicopter six more will lie down and play dead,” he said. “If you are shooting them they will run off and stand dead still next to a tree trunk.”

Grant Prendergast on his farm Orrabah near Retreat with the damage to his paddocks caused by feral pigs. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Farmers across NSW have noticed a huge jump in pig numbers thanks to the ideal wet conditions providing them with ample food over the last three years. Many are predicting they will become the next mouse plague – only bigger.

“It is an environmental disaster. They completely destroy the land, attack and kill calves and lambs and carry disease,” Mr Prendergast said.

A Local Land Services aerial and ground shooting program over 12 million hectares of NSW has seen more than 97,000 pigs culled but farmers say it has barely scratched the surface and more needs to be done.

Mr Prendergast said Premier Chris Minns’ $8 million boost to bring the spending on the feral pig problem to $13 million and appointment of a NSW State Feral Pig Coordinator last month was not enough to tackle the problem.

“What we need is for the bureaucrats in Sydney to put down their coffee and come out here and see for themselves what is occurring,” Mr Prendergast said.

“They need to allow farmers to have the proper guns to do the job and co-ordinate the agencies to work together to end the problem.”

Grant Prendergast wants more to be done. Picture: Jonathan Ng

NSW Farmers are only allowed to use bolt action rifles unlike their counterparts in Queensland and Victoria who can use semiautomatic weapons to cut down pig herds quickly.

Local Land Services Executive Director Regional Delivery, Rob Kelly, said the organisation had worked alongside landholders to deliver the biggest pest control campaign on record.

“Feral pigs are destructive but intelligent animals, so there’s no silver bullet when it comes to reducing numbers. It requires the co-ordinated use of multiple control methods, including aerial and ground shooting, trapping and baiting,” he said.

“Reducing feral pig numbers will require a sustained, co-ordinated effort by landholders across all tenures over the coming months and possibly years.”

NSW Farmers Association President Xavier Martin said farmers from the Western Riverina, through the Central West and into the Northern Tablelands all reported that they had never seen so many feral pigs.

“While Local Land Services has culled more than 97,000 feral pigs, we know from our members that there are millions more out there, and until we get on top of that breeding population we will continue to have problems,” he said.

“It’s clear the pig numbers are growing out of control now, and we need a drastic and sustained increase in resources for everyone involved to get on top of the problem once and for all,” Mr Martin said.

Originally published as Feral pigs running amok in NSW as farmers want more done to fix the problem