The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers secured more than 10 per cent of the upper house vote in the seat of Cootamundra at the 2015 election without running a lower house candidate, boosting the party's confidence about the forthcoming byelection.

But the Nationals say the electorate has been "very well served" by retiring MP Katrina Hodgkinson, who stood up for them over the contentious push to ban greyhound racing.

Council amalgamations and the failed bid to close the greyhound racing industry are predicted to play into the byelection sparked by Ms Hodgkinson's announcement she will leave parliament at the end of August.

Last year the then Baird government forcibly amalgamated five councils in the seat into two – Hilltops Council and Cootamundra-Gundagai and there are several greyhound tracks.