Universities should analyse the cost of roos to agriculture

COLUMNIST reckons farmers are more a threatened species than feral cats.

A kangaroo in dry surroundings at Leslie Dam in June 2018. Picture: Jodie Locke

IT was interesting to receive a letter from an Australian university with a feral cat survey.

I was invited to participate because I was identified as a farmer and the covering letter stated that farmers play an important role in feral cat management.

The only other criteria was I was over 18 years of age.

The survey was to take five to 10 minutes, I took a bit longer as I added a new box or two to the survey and filled in the section where additional information can be written.

I added a new box with the words "don't have any concerns with cats, kangaroos cost us $15,000 a year."

I was asked whether I followed the Threatened Species Commissioner on social media. Sure.

Our current cat Nightmear is the first cat resident of any house I have lived in for 35 years.

She has only had one holiday in her five years at our home.

I was mucking around with the Valiant Charger car in the backyard and closed the door not knowing the cat was in the back seat.

We don't use a time book to tick the cat in and out and luckily I opened the car door a day or two later and there was Nightmear.

We did have a few cats way back and they did a good job with the mice. If Nightmear has to go on Lite n' Easy, it will be my fault, I am a softie who always gives her some feed.

I enjoyed doing the survey especially when I added that the Threatened Species Commission should look at Australian farmers.

Our farmers are threatened with everything from dry weather to up and down prices and pests galore.

We have fire ants at Warrill View, the rabbits are here and we have a lot more pests, dingoes, weeds and the like.

There were no losses for the first 50 years I was on the farm from tree fern but it was a prime suspect for three fat cows dying six or eight years ago.

On the feral cat survey, I wrote, "we all like a few kangaroos but anyone now buying a $1 million property is paying $750,00 for the income producing land and $250,000 for the quarter of the property which the roos occupy.”

When I was asked how many feral cats I had seen in the past year, the answer was none but I put 50,000 in the kangaroo box.

I have spent enough time on this column, I need to Google the Threatened Species Commissioner for any updates on my suggestion that farmers are a threatened species.

Originally published as Universities should analyse the cost of roos to agriculture