SULPHUR-crested cockatoos have wreaked havoc on a crop of jam melons and grammas growing near Forbes, that were supposed to feature in this year’s Western District entry at the Sydney Royal Show.
Cockatoos have been one of the biggest challenges to this year’s entry, and this is the second time they have destroyed the jam melon crop, said Tom Dywer from the Western District Exhibit committee.
“The melons have been planted twice and the cockatoos have attacked them both times,” he said.
“The melons were netted, but once they grow big, they are outside the net and then the cockatoos are at it.”
Mr Dwyer thinks the floods that hit Forbes last year left the birds desperate for food and they were picking off anything they could get.
The melons were easy pickings. Despite the setback, the show must go on, and the Western District crew is working long hours to get its display ship-shape.
Giant pumpkins, maize, and clover will feature in this year’s display, and Mr Dwyer said it is all starting to come together.
“We’ve got a good bit of the display built up at Gilgandra,” he said.
“We’re getting new produce all the time, and we’re putting it all together.”
The Western District Committee is calling on any jam melon and gramma farmers in the region to help better its Royal Sydney entry.
Mr Dwyer said anyone able to help should phone him directly on 0429 449349.
“We’d want to know where the produce is first, and then we’d pick it up around March 20,” he said. “With the jam melons, the bigger the better.”
Fruit bats attack
Cockatoos aren’t the only hungry animals that fruit farmers had to contend with this season. While a lot of the fruit-pilfering is being carried out by various bird-life, some farmers are also being visited by their furry, nocturnal cousins – fruit bats.
Fiona Hall from the Caernarvon Cherry Company said, once the fruit starts to ripen it’s a race against time to get as much off as possible, before it can be damaged by bats. “Fruit bats fly in overnight and bite the top off about 5% of the ripe fruit.”
In one night, bats can do thousands of dollars worth of damage, which Fiona Hall said is annoying for farmers who have spent the whole year growing the fruit.
“We are looking into more netting in the future, because every year we have to contend with cockatoos, starlings and bats,” she said.
“The cherry season has finished now, but apples will be ripening soon and we are going to be keeping a close eye on them.”
