That’s why they took part in the fox baiting program through Murray Local Land Services again this year.
As a reward for their commitment, the pair were entered in to the annual Fox Dog Lotto competition. And they won the grand prize, claiming a $2000 voucher from Elders.
Fox Dog Lotto is an annual competition that offers a weekly prize of a bag of dog food and entry to the grand prize of a $2,000 voucher from a rural supplier of the winner’s choice, drawn in spring.
The Holschiers, who run a fifth-generation sheep and cropping enterprise at Womboota, have already invested wisely, putting the money towards a new wool press.
Ebba said they bait for foxes to protect their livestock, but also to help preserve native wildlife, like the ground-nesting quails and other birds they see on their property, as well as turtles and small native mammals.
“We’re quite close to the Koondrook-Perricoota forest and we know that baiting takes place in there,” she said.
“We like to think we’re helping the forest and are part of a community effort.”
“As farms are getting larger, there are fewer farmers to bait.
“So, we like to think our efforts are really important in keeping foxes in check.”
The Holschiers have a plantation of saltbush on their 2500ha property, put in to manage a salinity problem, but have found that it has become a haven for foxes.
“It’s impossible to go in and try to shoot them, so baiting is the best strategy for us,” Ebba said, adding that neighbours on surrounding farms are also actively managing fox populations.
“We have really good neighbours. I would say that they all fox bait around 80 per cent of the time,” she said.
“The more people that do it, the fewer foxes we’ll have, so we need to keep going.”
That is a central principle of Murray LLS’s biannual Feral Fighters fox baiting program: group baiting across numerous properties is the most effective strategy to curb fox populations.
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