Estimating Kangaroo Damage to Winter Wheat Crops in the Bungunya District of Southern Queensland.

Barnes, A.; Hill, Gordon A.

doi:10.1071/wr9920417

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Re curr ent c osts Kangaroos compete with conventional livestock for water and food, contributing significantly to grazing pressure (Waters 2018;Pahl 2019). They can also severely impact crops and resting paddocks (Barnes & Hill 1992;Viggers & Hearn 2005;NSW Farmers 2019;Waters et al 2019) and can be a great financial cost to landholders (see McLeod 2004;Barnard 2015;SWNRM 2017).…”

Section: Kangaroos As Pestsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Options and rationale for regional property‐based kangaroo production

Wilson¹,

Edwards²

2021

Eco Management Restoration

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SummaryThe larger kangaroos (Macropus giganteus, M. fuliginosus and Osphranter rufus) are widely distributed and have a national population which fluctuates in response to changes in grass growth and trends to 40 million. Most are outside parks and reserves and, on pastoral properties, particularly on the rangelands of southern Australia. High numbers compromise regenerative agriculture, pasture conservation, revegetation and stewardship programmes, and can have significant financial impacts on landholders by lowering livestock production and damaging sustainability. Some smaller macropods, wallabies and pademelons, also have a similar effect, especially in Tasmania and on other smaller Australian Islands where foxes are absent. Paradoxically, kangaroos have a wide range of potentially valuable production attributes and are unique, which should be a global comparative advantage. The kangaroo industry is established with a small domestic and international market, although demand has been falling in recent years. Non‐commercial culling is rising, which results in millions of carcasses being wasted and left to decompose in the field. Indigenous communities abhor such waste and its cultural implications. A stronger kangaroo industry would be a better solution to managing overabundant kangaroos than pest culling and exclusion fences. Because kangaroos move from property to property, populations need to be managed on a regional basis through ‘regional property‐based kangaroo production’. A form of proprietorship over this mobile resource would encourage landholders to play a role in creating greater demand for kangaroo products. They would have an incentive to raise the value of kangaroos. Through innovative harvesting, they could deliver high‐quality, environmentally branded, accurately described, gourmet, differentiated products integrated with other livestock industries. They could establish cooperatives and embark on promoting regional kangaroo products. Policy improvements are needed to achieve these production systems. Doing so would diversify their enterprises, convert a liability already on their properties into an asset, create employment, enhance rural economic resilience, and improve animal welfare and conservation outcomes while earning them carbon credits. These opportunities become even more profound as climate change progresses.

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Section: Kangaroos As Pestsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Options and rationale for regional property‐based kangaroo production

Wilson¹,

Edwards²

2021

Eco Management Restoration

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“…Arnold and Steven 1988;Hill et al 1988), only two published studies have quantified the losses to production. Barnes and Hill (1992) estimated that eastern grey kangaroos caused losses of 8-17% to winter wheat crops in southern Queensland, and Arnold et al (1989) found that western grey kangaroos reduced the yield of lupins, barley, wheat and oats to varying degrees in the Wheatbelt of Western Australia. Similarly, although grey kangaroos overlap in diet with sheep at times (e.g.…”

Section: Types Of Problemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploding kangaroos: assessing problems and setting targets

Coulson

2007

Pest or Guest

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Grey kangaroo populations in south-eastern Australia can increase to the point where they are considered overabundant. In such populations, the management problem is too often oversimplified as high population density. A more useful approach is to identify the key, underlying problems associated with kangaroos and set clear objectives for them. Kangaroo-related problems may include road accidents, attacks on people, zoonotic disease, contamination of water supplies, lost crop production and competition with threatened species, as well as affects on kangaroos themselves, such as poor body condition and heavy juvenile mortality. Once specific problems have been identified, managers should set objectives that are clear and realistic. Population targets then have to be set for the density required to meet management objectives. Currently, some approaches to this are inadequate: basing targets by comparing density with other populations ignores site-specific differences in productivity and habitat structure; calculating the ecological carrying capacity considers only food resources and neglects other effects; constructing grazing exclosures provides no data on intermediate densities. The relationship between the problem and the population can be explored by analysing time-series data, but is most effectively elucidated by experimentally manipulating population density and measuring responses in the level of the problem.

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“…By not harvesting at a desired rate (e.g. 15%: Pople et al 2003;DEC 2004), costs are incurred to the kangaroo industry through reduced and more variable yield (Hacker et al 2004), and to farmers through increased competition with sheep (Edwards 1989) and damage to crops (Hill et al 1988; Barnes and Hill 1992). Juxtaposed to this is a social cost if kangaroos are reduced below some arbitrarily low density (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating the abundance of eastern grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus) in south-eastern New South Wales, Australia

et al. 2006

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To provide an estimate of kangaroo numbers for harvest management, a survey was designed for an area of 29500 km 2 encompassing the agricultural and grazing lands of the Braidwood, Cooma, Goulburn, Gundagai and Yass Rural Lands Protection Board (RLPB) districts in south-east New South Wales. An aerial survey using a helicopter was considered more efficient than ground survey because of the size of the area, relatively high relief and dense tree cover, and the need for regular monitoring. Tree cover and landscape relief was used to stratify the five RLPB districts into areas of probable high, medium and low kangaroo density. Kangaroo density estimated from helicopter surveys conducted in the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales was used to suggest densities and thereby allocate survey effort in each stratum. A survey comprising 735 km of transect line was conducted in winter 2003 with a target precision of 20%. The survey returned an estimate of 286 600 ± 32 300 eastern grey kangaroos for the whole of the proposed south-east New South Wales kangaroo-management zone. In 2004, a trial harvest of slightly less than 15% of this estimate was taken. Success of the trial will be determined by the impact of harvesting on the population's dynamics, by landholder and industry participation, and by the capacity to monitor population size, harvest offtake and compliance with regulations.

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Estimating Kangaroo Damage to Winter Wheat Crops in the Bungunya District of Southern Queensland.

Cited by 8 publications

References 0 publications

Options and rationale for regional property‐based kangaroo production

Options and rationale for regional property‐based kangaroo production

Exploding kangaroos: assessing problems and setting targets

Estimating the abundance of eastern grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus) in south-eastern New South Wales, Australia

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