Two Seymour sheep farmers have counted the cost wild dogs have had on their grazing properties.
David Laurence runs 13,000 head of breeding sheep with his family east of Seymour and said one particular dog had menaced their farm on its own for more than three months.
“We started chasing him 18 months ago,” Mr Laurence said.
“It was a smart dog, and because it wouldn’t take a bait, we had to get help from a trapper.”
The wild dog killed 82 sheep — several being lambs — for three months before being trapped and shot.
“There were 20 sheep also that were savaged that we had to put down,” Mr Laurence said.
“Bloody oath, it’s awful to do.
“And that’s just one dog!”
Mr Laurence calculated the cost of $150 for each taken lamb with the future production from lost sheep to reach $20,000 in losses.
Under Victoria’s wild dog management laws, professional trappers are required to use motion-sensor cameras to identify dogs as not being domestic pets before baiting or trapping them.
Traps are required to be checked by landholders or trappers every day.
Jack Eastman also runs sheep east of Seymour and said wild dogs had become “pretty cunning” as one dog saw this season’s count of lost sheep inch toward 70.
“We tried trapping it, but it was too smart,” Mr Eastman said.
“The trapper was quite good too actually, but the dogs are pretty smart.
“It gets too hard, sometimes, you know; you think to yourself ‘let’s just go to cattle’ or something else.”
Mr Eastman said it was time for farmers to stand up for themselves and shed light on the reality of it affecting not just larger farms.
“The dogs will just keep coming closer and closer,” he said.
“They will rip the hobby farmers apart too.
“The dogs are wild; they are bastards.“
Mr Eastman said a common sense approach to the problem was needed to overcome the idealism of conservationists.
“It’s the greenies living in the concrete cities and they say ‘just put a fence up’ but that’s not viable.
“It’s basically another attack on the ag industry.”
Mr Eastman and Mr Laurence both said the dogs were over-destructive in their pursuit of minimal food.
“If you’ve ever seen it, a lot of times they only take the part (of the animal) they want to eat,” Mr Eastman said.
“They are chasing just the kidneys so they will rip a hole in them only to take a kidney.
“They will kill four in a night and injure another four and you’ve got to put them down.
“Bits and pieces missing off them everywhere.”
Mr Eastman said a trapper had once found four dogs attacking a single calf at the same time.
He also acknowledged research that had shown wild dogs travelled long distances.
“They don’t just hang around, they keep moving.”
Mr Eastman said the constant battle with wild dogs needed attention with the decision of the government whether to ban trapping and baiting now looming.
“They have got to keep the funding going for tracking if they can — and poisoning — or it will be disastrous, really, and kill the sheep industry.”
Mr Laurence said the struggle was more than just “pulling your hair out”.
“It really does get to you as well as affecting your livelihood,” he said.
“Someone did some calculations and there’s been 1000 sheep taken in the last 12 months.
“That’s in an area that’s about 20 per cent of the sheep area in Victoria so if you do the maths, it could be 5000 getting killed statewide.
“And this government could not give a fig about it.”