Prolonged wet weather events in the area have fed concerns of an explosion of wild pig and dog numbers, prompting calls for increased animal control resources.

With flood waters well and truly receding, the increased population has begun to gather closer to more permanent water points, where the burden of management is putting increasing pressure on farmers and landholders. 

NSW Farmers Wild Dog Coordinator Bruce Duncan said farm dams have become the favourite location for wild dogs and pigs.

“The damage caused by a wild pig is truly amazing if you haven’t seen it before,” Mr Duncan said. 

“They can quickly rip through fields and fences, attack lambs and goat kids, and can bring disease as well." 

While Local Land Services conducts aerial and control management practices, landholders are largely encouraged to undertake their own control programs to reduce the impact.

According to the National Feral Pig Management’s plan for the Central West, aerial shooting is performed annually as per the availability of funding.

Numbers recorded within the area found that over 16,000 pigs were dispatched over 25 flights between 2018 and 2020.

Beyond the years of drought, populations are likely to have exploded far beyond those figures.

“Recent aerial shooting work in the Lake Cargelligo area dispatched a total of 300 pigs over 2.5 days at a cost of $30,000,” the National Feral Pig Management Plan reported.

Naturally, landholders resort to a potentially less effective but more cost-effective option in trapping and baiting. Still, with more than 23 million feral pigs in Australia, management costs the agriculture industry more than $100 million each year. 

In North West NSW, the losses accumulated from wild pigs from July 2020 to June 2021 was $47 million in lost agricultural production.

NSW Farmer President James Jackso has approached the state government for an extended commitment to pest management in order to stay vigilant and reduce impact. 

“Farmers are regularly trapping more than 60 pigs in a single week, it’s just a huge problem at the moment,” Mr Jackson said. 

According to a landholder survey conducted within the region in 2021, while over 70% of landholders strongly agreed that feral pig management was important on their farm, less than 50 per cent were eager to implement a feral pig management program without subsidies.

“As we see continued high prices and demand for livestock, those losses will continue to sting the back pocket,” he said.