The Help Most Farmers Never Claim
There is a surprising amount of free pest management support available to NSW landholders, and a lot of it goes unclaimed simply because people do not know it exists or assume it is more trouble than it is worth. It is not. Most of it starts with one phone call and a conversation with a local biosecurity officer whose job is to help you.
This is a practical directory of the free services, tools, and advice Local Land Services offers, and how to actually use them. It is deliberately the free-help side of the story. For grants, low-interest loans, and tax deductions, which are the money side, see our complete guide to pest control funding and grants for NSW farmers.
Free Resources at a Glance
| Resource | What you get, free | How to access |
|---|---|---|
| Biosecurity officer advice | Tailored property advice and a control plan | Call 1300 795 299 |
| VPIT training | Accreditation to handle 1080, valid 5 years | Online or face-to-face via LLS |
| Baits | 1080, DOGGONE, FOXOFF, pig and rabbit baits, signs | Via your biosecurity officer |
| Equipment loans | Pig traps, cage traps, monitoring cameras | Ask your biosecurity officer |
| FeralScan | Pest mapping app and website | feralscan.org.au |
| Coordinated programmes | Group and aerial control access | Join through LLS |
| Plans and guides | Regional plans, fact sheets, ID guides | lls.nsw.gov.au |
| SSAA Farmer Assist | Volunteer accredited shooters, insured | farmerassist.com.au |
Free Advice and Planning
The most valuable free resource is a person: your local biosecurity officer. They provide one-on-one advice on monitoring pests, reporting damage, and working with neighbours, and they can help build a control plan tailored to your property, its species, and its pressure. This is not a sales pitch or a form to fill in, it is a conversation with someone whose job is to help you manage pests. In a single year, Local Land Services ran more than 1,100 landholder consultations and 168 workshops.
To reach them, call 1300 795 299 and ask for your local biosecurity officer. The number covers all 11 Local Land Services regions across NSW, business hours Monday to Friday. Each region also publishes a Regional Strategic Pest Animal Management Plan (2024 to 2028) you can download free, which sets out the priority pests and the coordinated approach for your area.
Free and Subsidised Baits
Every Local Land Services region runs seasonal bait supply, and for accredited landholders the baits are free or heavily subsidised. A typical offering includes:
- 1080 meat baits and baited grain for feral pigs
- DOGGONE baits for wild dogs
- FOXOFF baits for foxes
- Poisoned carrots for rabbits
- Free warning signs for your baiting programme
The primary baiting seasons are autumn, roughly April to June, and spring. In one year Local Land Services supplied nearly 200,000 kilograms of free 1080 baited grain to participating landholders. The one requirement is that you hold a current VPIT certificate to collect and use 1080 and similar baits. Exact bait types, quantities, and collection dates vary by region and season, so confirm the current offer with your local office and order ahead. For how these toxins work and the rules around them, see our explainer on 1080 and PAPP baits in NSW, and for the choice between 1080 and sodium nitrite for pigs, our comparison of HOGGONE and 1080.
Free Training: VPIT
VPIT, Vertebrate Pesticide Induction Training, is the accreditation you need to legally handle 1080, Pindone, RHDV, and PAPP baits in NSW, and Local Land Services provides it free. You can complete it online in a few hours or face-to-face, and the certificate is valid for five years. Because 1080 is a restricted product supplied only through Local Land Services, VPIT is effectively the key that unlocks the free and subsidised baits above. If you intend to bait at all, it is the first practical step, and it costs you nothing but a little time.
Free Equipment Loans
You do not have to buy gear to get started. Through the Feral Pig and Pest Program, Local Land Services lends pig traps, cage traps, and monitoring cameras to eligible landholders at no cost, so you can control pigs or monitor a problem before committing money to your own equipment. A pig trap can cost several hundred dollars to buy and trail cameras add up quickly, so the loans are a real saving. Availability varies by region, so ask your biosecurity officer. One practical note: Local Land Services can supply the trap, but you will need an appropriate firearm to humanely destroy trapped animals.
Free Monitoring: FeralScan
FeralScan is a free community website and smartphone app, at feralscan.org.au, for recording pest sightings, damage, and control actions, printing maps, and coordinating with neighbours. It covers feral pigs, wild dogs, foxes, deer, rabbits, and more, and holds hundreds of thousands of records nationally. It comes into its own for a coordinated programme, because a shared map of where the animals are and what control has been done is exactly what a group of neighbours needs to aim their effort. Combined with free trail-camera loans, it lets you monitor before and after control without spending anything.
Access to Coordinated Programmes
Some of the most effective control is only available as a coordinated programme, and Local Land Services is the way in. Through your biosecurity officer you can join coordinated group baiting, coordinated aerial shooting across multiple properties, and cross-tenure control that treats public and private land together. The current 2025-26 Feral Pig and Pest Program, backed by 14.3 million dollars and running to June 2026, bundles many of the free elements above (free grain and 1080, trap and camera loans, and coordinated control) into one programme, and the 10 million dollar Good Neighbours Program funds control where your land meets national parks, state forests, and Crown land. Joining these is free or low cost to the participating landholder. For why coordinated control works so much better than going it alone, see our guide on coordinated neighbour programmes.
Free Help Beyond Local Land Services
One more worth knowing about, outside Local Land Services: the SSAA Farmer Assist program connects NSW farmers with trained, accuracy-tested volunteer shooters at no cost, with all participants covered by 20 million dollars in public liability insurance. You post a job on the board at farmerassist.com.au and members apply. It is run by the Sporting Shooters Association, separate from Local Land Services, and it can help maintain pressure between professional operations. The PestSmart website and FeralScan also offer free fact sheets, identification guides, and control advice.
How This Fits With Professional Control
Free resources and professional control are not either-or. The smart approach uses both: claim the free advice, baits, training, and equipment for your ongoing control, and bring in a professional for the parts that need it, the thermal survey to find what you cannot see, the coordinated shooting, and the data that proves whether the programme worked. The documentation from professional operations also makes your biosecurity duty compliance and any grant or tax claims straightforward.
We build our programmes to work alongside your Local Land Services resources, not to replace them. We start with a property assessment, coordinate our baiting and control with the district programmes, and help you make the most of the free support you are entitled to. Get in touch and we will help you put it all together.
Sources consulted: NSW Local Land Services and NSW Government (contact and biosecurity pages, Feral Pig and Pest Program 2025-26, VPIT, regional bait supply, Good Neighbours Program, Regional Strategic Pest Animal Management Plans); FeralScan (feralscan.org.au); PestSmart; SSAA Farmer Assist (farmerassist.com.au).