Meeting the changing needs and growing scale of pest control operations now and for the future means continuous advances in the properties and quality of our bait products. By way of an example, TBfree’s new strategy to eradicate Bovine TB over 10 years will require further refinements in 1080 baits, including in aspects such as palatability, toxicity, size range, and properties such as moisture retention and product life.
Likewise, with DOC’s very large scale Battle for our Birds programme, Orillion needed to – and was able to – provide huge quantities of bait, fresh, delivered safely and securely, and on time.
Another major DOC operation is kicking off in Mangapurua in the Whanganui National Park, requiring 500gm of bait per ha over a total of 30,000 ha. The park is home to the country’s largest population of brown kiwi, and the timing of the operation – coinciding with the critical breeding and fledging season – will also benefit many other native bird species. The benefits offered by new control strategies and increasingly refined techniques like this could in future be seen over many other larger areas including Fiordland National Park.