Senator keen to hop into roo meat exports

A Nationals senator wants the government to bounce into action and encourage more people to farm kangaroos.

Senator Barry O'Sullivan believes herding Skippy into paddocks is the answer to the "artificial plague" of the marsupials across eastern Australia.

"They're artificial plagues in the sense we've improved pastures ... water reticulations, meaning these things present as a bounty for kangaroos," he told AAP on Wednesday.

The Queensland grazier does not believe culling is effective at controlling populations because it just removes the large males.

It was like shovelling a hole as the tide came in, he said.

Senator O'Sullivan successfully sought Senate recognition of the potential for an expanded kangaroo meat and hide industry.

So far, 73 countries accepted kangaroo meat imports but the market needed to grow, he said.

The senator has high hopes the free trade agreement with China could open up a lucrative market for roo burgers and kanga bangers.