Landholders urged to lookout for locusts

Have you noticed grasshopper guts on your bullbar lately?

Chances are if there are yellow smudge marks around, those grasshoppers, they’re looking to lay, according to Livestock Health and Pest Authority (LHPA) ranger Luke Scales.

LHPA senior ranger Lisa Thomas said fellow ranger Rhett Robinson was at a property on Friday morning and the farmer there said a third of the paddock was missing from the previous night.

“In number Australian plague locusts can do quite a bit of damage,” Ms Thomas said.

“If people have got locusts out there and know where they are treat them now. 

“It’s going to save a lot of grief by reducing the impact on the crops and also having massive numbers come spring.’’

The LHPA is asking people to be vigilant. 

“Most of the (locust) activity will be from 10am to about 3pm in the afternoon,” Ms Thomas said.

“Locusts need the warmth of the day to get up and motivated. 

“If the weather’s cool you won’t see much activity. They’ll stay in the grass and they’ll sun themselves they need the warmth to get going.”

Mr Scales said the defining marks on the plague locust were the tell-tale red legs. 

“The most specific way of telling them apart from another grasshopper is to catch them, open up their wingspan and look for the black smudge mark right on the tip of the wing,” said Mr Scales.

Economically the damage could be catastrophic.  

“People who sowed late waiting for rain and are just getting newly emerged crops, if they lose they’re crops it’s quite crippling to anyone financially and agriculturally,” Ms Thomas said.

So far the only confirmed locust presence was in the triangle formed by Dubbo Gilgandra and Warren.

“The ones in the Balladoran area, which is south of Gilgandra, are still predominantly on the ground,” Ms Thomas said.

“The ones that were identified over at Warren were a low-density flying swarm. 

“We’re not quite sure where that’s come from but there’s evidence that they’ve flown in. 

“They are quite hard bodied which indicates that they’ve been flying.” 

The current management process with the LHPA is to issue chemicals to landholders after  confirmation of Australian plague locust presence. 

“Ratepayers pay an insect levy in their rates which goes to the LHPA,” Ms Thomas said

“That insect levy goes towards chemical. 

“When the plague locust outbreaks happen, we retrieve the chemical and issue it to landholders, we do need to confirm that they are plague locusts.”