Mice continue to cause damage in the Mid West, stripping canola pods

According to the Grains Research and Development Corporation's (GRDC) agro-ecological zone (AEZ) map, mouse numbers in the Northern AEZ are still high, as of the latest update on June 19.

"It is a lot harder to see the mice now the crop is up," Mr Eva said.

"I can't find any holes at the moment, even where there is damage in the canola, so I don't know where they are hiding."

Mice on Mr Eva's property are stripping the canola pods, leaving damage in patches among the early sown and some self-sown canola.

"I knew there were some still around in the early canola that went in before cyclone Narelle," he said.

"It is the early canola that is podding up and as the seeds mature inside the pod... the mice are starting to work that out and starting to eat the seeds out of the pods.

"They are doing a lot of damage in isolated plants."

After receiving about 30 millimetres of rain over the weekend, Mr Eva is holding off on his next bait application to ensure its effectiveness.

"It's not yet viable to bait at the moment because the ground is so wet," he said.

"It's fairly advanced canola they are damaging, so there is a lot of bulk there, a lot for them to eat.

"There is still a lot of food around so I don't know how effective baiting will be at the moment."

Growing wheat, lupins, and lentils, as well as canola, Mr Eva is seeing some damage in the other crops too.

"I have some country out west that I know they are nibbling on some lupins out there, but the plant is up and fairly actively growing," Mr Eva said.

"They're not killing the plant, just eating a few leaves here and there."

However, most of the damage being done is in the canola.

He said this year was definitely the worst they have experienced with mice, seeing higher numbers onfarm.

"We baited all our lupins and canola at seeding time, which seemed to control them alright," Mr Eva said.

"I have only had to rebait 100 hectares twice, and I know some people have had to bait three or four times now, but our numbers weren't that high."

While baiting has been relatively effective, Mr Eva also used a mouldboard plough to bury the mice.

"But that didn't kill them," he said.

"Even on the heavier dirt where I mouldboarded it, there are still mice that survived.

"The mouldboard flipped the topsoil down and I was burying paddy melons, and the mice were digging down to where the paddy melons were and bringing the paddy melon seeds to the surface and eating it."

Despite some damage, Mr Eva said they were in a "purple patch", with crops looking really good.