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Plagues of house mice have occurred throughout the grain-growing districts of South Australia at irregular intervals of 4-10 years since the late 1800’s. During such plagues, mice can reach densities of over 1,000 mice/ha and cause significant agricultural losses. Much of the damage occurs when hungry mice leave the paddocks and infest stored grain and fodder, farm buildings and rural townships. Severe mouse damage to stacks of cereal grain in hessian bags provided much of the early impetus for the change to bulk grain storage. Cereal haystacks in the paddocks were particularly vulnerable, particularly if the hay contained mature grain for chaff-cutting. Mice in their thousands burrowed in to the stacks, kicking out piles of straw and husks from grain they consumed, and ultimately fouling or completely flattening the entire stack

(Source: Greg Mutze)