After a long period of debate, we decided to get some Farm Cats to help keep the Mice and Rat population down without the use of poisons which can also harm other animals in the ecosystem.
We hope you'll enjoy meeting Lucia and Muir in this video discussing the Pros & Cons of having Cats on a farm.
Rodent Control
- If grains exist on a farm there will also be Rats and Mice present.
- Poison is an option, but can also harm the animals which eat the rodents (e.g. owls, hawks, etc.), and in our experience "non-toxic" poisons tend to be ineffective.
- Cats can be very effective at controlling the population of nuisance rodents.
- To train them to target rodents specifically, play with your kittens with things low to the ground like balls of fur, grass or toy mice. Leave them outside to increase their chance of exposure to rodents.
Cats are Predators
- Cats will also target non-nuisance animals. Be aware that they can devastate the population of birds, voles, snakes, etc.
- Avoid using toys raised above the ground or similar to birds in any way (e.g. feathery).
- Spend some time observing your kittens outside and discourage behavior such as climbing tree with nests or stalking animals such as young chickens.
If you enjoyed this video, we hope you'll support @leafhopperfarm by Upvoting, Resteeming and Following for future updates.
In the dark ages cats were killed off because they were associated with witchcraft. There were very few cats left in Europe to control the mice and rat populations. Poor food storage practices gave rodents easy access to stored grains. Having no natural predators and easy access to food caused the rodent population to explode. Poor hygiene and disposal of human waste into the streets allowed for easy transmission of disease to the food storage areas by the rodents. This is what caused the black death (bubonic plague) to wipe out 60% of Europe.
Cats are essential for preventing pandemics in poor counties as well as post collapse societies.
Upvoting and Resteeming. @AmericanPreppers and @TomTrademore will also upvote and send some upvote bots to help with this post.
Great post. Thank you for sharing!
Gotta love the kitties! Upvote bots on the way.
That's been a big worry for me as well. I also worry about the cats going after my chickens. I've been hmming and hawwwing over cats for a while now. They'd be strictly outdoor cats and I plan to get the feral type from the shelter.
I refuse to put any sort of poison out, even organic poison. If it is devestating to a rodent there is probably something else that it might be toxic to, I just don't trust it. Our kiddy pools for the ducks seem to be doing a good job killing some mice. Sad, but it happens. Will probably do the water bucket method in the wellhouse soon.
I will have to figure out some ways to protect the birds from cats. We have a birdhouse here that from what I understand the mountain bluebirds nest in every year. This year they had two clutches! Being a safe haven for birds like this is important to me. I think we will have to put this nest on a tall metal pole or something to prevent predation by kitty.
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Good hunting !
On balance i think i would have cats for pest/rodent control..
Good quality post and great content.... You deserve the Upvotes.
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STOPWonderful! I love cats. Barn cats are in between the worlds of family cats and feral cats. I love them all in their own ways. Resteemed for you. Followed you, too, because you are in the #thl community. Subscribed to your Youtube channel, my account is named for my cat Luna. I love that you are promoting keeping the cats from harming other animals in the ecosystem. Yay!! Shared your video on twitter.
Cats are great for so many things!