A new survey shows farmers are struggling to get on top of rising pest animal numbers on their farms, despite spending more on controls each year.Industry group Federated Farmers surveyed 660 of its members in a biennial national survey around pest animals on farm.It found 90 percent of farms actively managed pests, with farmers spending an estimated $82 million in pest controls over the past year.They reported spending an average of $6.18 per hectare on pest controls, up 13 percent over two years.However, two-thirds of those surveyed reported that pest numbers had increased over the past five years, up from around half in 2024.Brushtail possums, deer and wallabies were ranked the worst pests nationwide, though rats, Canadian geese, wild pigs and rabbits were major worries in some regions.The group's meat and wool chairman, Richard Dawkins, said there was a huge amount of hunting happening in rural New Zealand, however farmers were reporting populations of pests like deer were still increasing."Ninety percent of farmers are engaging recreational hunters either themselves or friends or family, and a further 50 percent were actually getting outside help as well," he said."So this is clearly not a problem where recreational hunting and weekend shooting can actually solve it."Rooting animals like deer, wild pigs and goats were more common on sheep and beef farms than on dairy farms, where Canadian geese were the most common species.Arable farms had greater numbers of rabbits, and problems with unlisted species like birds and hares, though fewer deer, pigs or goats.Pesky pests on-farmPest animals posed many problems for farmers, like competition for pasture with their livestock, damage to infrastructure and the spread of diseases like tuberculosis or leptospirosis among livestock and workers.Both those diseases were commonly spread by possums, which were found to be present on 9 in 10 of the farms surveyed, and rats on virtually all of them.Dawkins said one farmer reported losing $100,000 after a leptospirosis outbreak, believed to be spread by wild pigs, that led to pregnant stock having miscarriages."There's the damage to infrastructure; damage to fences and gates, etcetera, by deer, pigs, goats," he said."You then have the pasture that they're consuming. So every kilo of grass that a wild animal eats, that's a kilo of grass not actually going into your productive livestock."But then thirdly, you really have that risk of disease spreading across your farm with significant impacts."Despite hunting in rural New Zealand, Federated Farmers says its members were reporting populations of pests like deer were still increasing.SuppliedSheep and beef farms experienced greater production losses from pests than for their dairy counterparts, with total losses hitting an estimated $384m across all affected farms nationwide.Around 30 percent of farmers said they reduced their stocking numbers due to pests, especially sheep and beef again in areas like Tairāwhiti, Hawke's Bay and Southland, Otago - believed to be correlated to deer and wild goat hotspots in these areas.Dawkins said a national strategy to manage deer in particular was well overdue.The government announced in June it would fund three pilot projects to tackle wild deer on privately-owned production land.Established by the Ministry for Primary Industries, the $750,000 would back catchment groups in Rangitīkei, Wairarapa and North Canterbury to test ways to measure deer populations, assess their impact on farmland.However, other groups including the Game Animal Council and University of Canterbury ecologist David Norton joined the call for a national deer strategy.Looking to possums, OSPRI managed the TB free programme against bovine tuberculosis primarily for animal disease management.While the Department of Conservation also carried out controls to protect biodiversity, and regional and unitary councils developed and funded pest control, surveillance and enforcement, according to their regional pest management plans.In the survey, farmers identified neighbouring forestry and Crown land as the main sources of pest reinvasion, rather than other farming neighbours.