Kangaroos and deer are causing huge problems for farmers in south-west Victoria’s Heytesbury region — and they fear the worst is yet to come.
The animals are breeding in blue gum plantations and then crossing over to farmland, damaging fences and pastures.
Michael Beecher’s farm borders the Great Otway National Park at Cooriemungle.
The connection has some pros — the trees provide shelter for cows on the windy days that lash the area — but the cons are outweighing the benefits.
“There are a lot of kangaroos and deer that ruin fences and there’s an accumulation of pasture that they eat,” Michael said.
“I had intended to strip graze paddocks, but you go through and see what they’ve done and have to give the cows the whole lot.
“It’s costing us thousands.”
The farm is separated from the national park by a normal fence.
“We can’t afford to put up a kangaroo fence,” Michael said.
“We have other pressing priorities at the moment.”
Michael, who moved from near Shepparton with his family in August 2023, recently found another drawback when his car crashed into a kangaroo.
Kangaroos and deer regularly cross the dirt road that leads to the farm.
“As more plantations go into the area, these incidents with kangaroos are going to become more and more common,” he said.
“It will get worse and will be an issue for a lot of people.”
About 30 kilometres away at Scotts Creek, Jamie Vogels is facing similar problems with the local kangaroo population more than doubling in recent years since the addition of a nearby timber plantation.
“We’ve got a massive problem with kangaroos,” he said.
“We’ve got hundreds and hundreds of them. They wreck all the fences, and you can imagine what 400 or 500 kangaroos will eat.”
On top of that, an explosion in the deer population is causing problems on the farm’s native vegetation.
“The deer ring-bark the trees,” Jamie said.
“I’m not sure if they rub on them or chew on them, but they’re making a hell of a dent.”
The farm has nearly 100 hectares of native bush and remnant vegetation.
“We had about 200 kangaroos with the native bush which was fine, but when the blue gums move next door and you’ve got 400 to 500 kangaroos grazing, you’ve got a problem.
“There’s nothing to eat there and then they move out on neighbouring farms to graze.
“All the feral animals from the blue gums next door moved over to our place.”
As a Corangamite Shire councillor, Jamie has pushed for planning permits to be a requirement for blue gum plantations so conditions, such as proper fencing, can be imposed.
“As it is, the kangaroos and deer breed up where the blue gums are growing, but there’s nothing to eat, so as a neighbour, you’re feeding all these animals.
“Over the next 15 years they will continue to breed, and when they knock down the blue gums, they will have nowhere to live, and they’ll have to move to farmland.”