A farmer has captured night vision of hundreds of mice running through his paddock in the latest display of the mouse plague's severity.
Australians farmers already under pressure from limited fertiliser supplies are now contending with a mouse plague in large parts of South Australia and Western Australia.
Matt Davey, who farms on the northern end of the Yorke Peninsula, told the ABC he noticed the mouse population boom with levels reaching the worst seen since 2021.
'Probably within the last month and a half, we've started seeing the odd one around the sheds,' he said.
'There's more moisture around, which has probably allowed them to breed up, because the last few years have been so dry.'
CSIRO research officer Steve Henry said sites that previously saw 100 to 200 mice per hectare are now seeing up to 600 mice per hectare.
Mice can have six to 10 babies every 19 to 21 days, meaning numbers can quickly spiral out of control.
A plagued is officially declared at 800 mice per hectare but Mr Henry warned farmers to start preparing for their crops to suffer.
Farmer Matt Davey captured hundreds of mice (above) in his paddock on the northern end of the Yorke Peninsula
Farmers and agriculture supply businesses have started preparing for a mouse plague
'You get 'UFO rings' where around their holes there's just nothing because they've eaten the grain, so that can thin the crop pretty well,' he said.
'In plague levels, I've seen huge areas wiped out.'
Robert Davis, an Associate Professor in Wildlife Conservation at Edith Cowan University, detailed why a plague would be devastating in a piece for The Conversation.
'Many farmers are about to start seeding – the process of putting seeds into the soil to grow crops – after recent rains. These farmers are now at risk of losing their crops before they even have the chance to germinate,' he wrote.
'This all suggests this latest mouse plague could be as bad as the plagues of 2020 and 2021 that affected communities across SA, western Victoria, NSW and southern Queensland.
'Over an 11-month period, millions of mice devoured spring crops and destroyed farm machinery.
'This series of plagues cost the agricultural sector an estimated $1billion, with many farmers and local businesses struggling to make ends meet. And this economic uncertainty took an immense psychological toll.
'This plague event also exposed rural communities to rodent-related disease, leaving some residents highly anxious or fearful.'
Large parts of SA and WA have reported booming mice populations (pictured is mice in SA)
Farmers in WA and SA have already begun deploying baits to help curb the mouse population.
Several agriculture supply businesses reported ordering more bait in to prepare for a boom in sales.
'Anyone who's lived through a mouse plague knows how destructive, both economically and emotionally, they can be,' Davis wrote.
'So let's hope this latest plague event comes to a swift end. That way rural communities across WA and SA can get back on their feet.'