There are a lot of people involved in a project like the Battle for our Birds. The scientists monitoring the scale of a likely beech mast and identifying the areas that need the most protection, there’s the regulatory organisations ensuring the operations are compliant, and the team on the operation day to apply the bait.

The on-site teams include helicopter pilots, operators to load the buckets and carry out the wash-downs, geography personnel to analyse the flight GPS data, and post-operation teams to clear the tracks, manage signage and lay decay monitoring stations.

But before all of this takes place the bait needs to be produced. That’s where Orillion comes in.

From our factory in Whanganui we produce the bait product used for aerial pest control across New Zealand and have been doing so for over 60 years. The 2014 Battle for our Birds programme was the first time we needed to produce the product in such high-volume across a short time-frame.

However, the production requirement for the 2016 Battle for our Birds programme far surpassed the 2014 operation, and due to waiting for confirmation on whether the beech mast was happening, we also had a shorter time frame to produce the larger order.

No compromise in quality

Our production team and equipment was under pressure to not only deliver the larger volume on time, but also to produce consistently high-quality bait that matches our usual standard.  

Due to 2014 being less intensive, but still higher-volume from the day-to-day operations, we were able to put processes in place in our production and testing facilities. With these in place, tried and tested in 2014, and utilised in the 2016 production we had a successful result.

We never missed a deadline, and our lab analysis of bait batches assured the operators of a high quality product each time.

We won’t always need to utilise these systems, but in times where New Zealand needs to prevent an explosion of rats, stoats and mice we’re ready to provide the front line with effective tools at a moment’s notice.