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Post By noeskimo
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Post By shdybrady
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03/25/12, 01:52 PM
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Legally blonde!
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Join Date: May 2003
Location: Oregon
Posts: 3,315
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Oh Rats!
Rats! We have rats...and they make me  . So we have been cutting down our numerous friends via rat bait and it is working as we are also making sure no grain at all if left on the ground or in feeders. But now with kids here I am brainstorming what I can make feeder wise to help keep their grain from spilling and maybe even keep rats out of it (fat chance of the last one huh).
Anybody have any advise to keep our Willard friends out of the kids grain? I have 2 weeks or so before I start giving it to them. Last year they just had free access to grain at this age and then I rationed it as they got older but even then we had mice eating it. So I am attempting to come up with a better idea.
I have declared war on all rats right now  .
Justine
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03/25/12, 02:04 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: South Dakota
Posts: 24,108
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Do you have cats?? 
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Teach only Love...for that is what You are 
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03/25/12, 02:19 PM
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Legally blonde!
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Join Date: May 2003
Location: Oregon
Posts: 3,315
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We have 1 inside cat and 1 outside cat.
Justine
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03/25/12, 02:58 PM
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Katie
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Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Twining, Mi.
Posts: 19,930
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I vote for more barn cats but then you can't use rat poison. I'd also put some rat traps where ever you can so they can get in them but not any of the baby goats or other farm friends.
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03/25/12, 03:36 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: West Texas-we had rain!!
Posts: 647
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I had some great mouser/ratter cats, bu they always did better on the mice. Then inadvertently, I adopted the solution: a Westie mix. She was little and cute, she came from the pound and she had no idea that she was a killer. Then one day, the house dog met a rat and from then on, it was WAR.She was gentle and kind, even with kittens and baby birds, but she would bring me about 5 rats a week, until she got a handle on them. Last fall, maybe only15 total, and I no longer saw rat droppings in the shop/barn. Try a terrier.
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03/25/12, 04:13 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: South Dakota
Posts: 24,108
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Great excuse to get a new puppy!! 
I have 5 outdoor cats..no rodent problems at all. (knocking on wood) And yes be very careful with the poison. We see dozens of dogs at the vet clinic with rat poisoning every year and some don't make it 
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Teach only Love...for that is what You are
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03/25/12, 04:25 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Ozark Mountains
Posts: 1,116
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Minelson
Great excuse to get a new puppy!!
I have 5 outdoor cats..no rodent problems at all. (knocking on wood) And yes be very careful with the poison. We see dozens of dogs at the vet clinic with rat poisoning every year and some don't make it |
Yes, we lost Juaquin (the cat) a few years ago from a piece of bar bait gone wild. All of my children stood around the wheel barrow and watched him pass...SO not cool! Do be careful with the poison.
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03/25/12, 05:23 PM
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More dharma, less drama.
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: Texas Coastal Bend/S. Missouri
Posts: 30,490
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Traps and cats.
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Alice
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"No great thing is created suddenly." ~Epictitus
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03/25/12, 06:06 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Dawsonville. ga
Posts: 402
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cats or a rat terrier. We are waiting to see if we have a rotent problem this year. Snakes were horrible, if either one gets out of hand I will go buy a king snake or two. It will take care of the rodents and poisionous snakes. Its alittle different approach but its a bit more natural
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03/25/12, 07:07 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: kansas
Posts: 1,851
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Our snake does better than the cats.
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Judy
Oat Bucket Farm
Central Kansas
The past is valuable as a guidepost, but not so if used as a hitching post.
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03/25/12, 09:04 PM
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She who waits....
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Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: East of Bryan, Texas
Posts: 6,796
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Helpful Items For the Farm - Cotton Eyed Does Dairy Goats
Scroll down to her PVC mineral and soda feeders. Then realize that alfalfa pellets or grain, or whatever can be put in there. You can also increase the holding volume by using 6" PVC.
The design not only discourages waste, or the stuff being fouled, but also discourages rats and mice, especially if you hang it, rather than securing it to a pole. (Other options include securing it to a T-post, or securing it higher so that the plumber's tape does not provide a ready-access rodent bridge from pole to feeder opening.)
That's my contribution. We have a plethora of snakes, so barn rats and mice are not a problem.
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Peace,
Caliann
"First, Show me in the Bible where it says you can save someone's soul by annoying the hell out of them." -- Chuck
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03/25/12, 09:31 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: South Dakota
Posts: 24,108
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CaliannG
Helpful Items For the Farm - Cotton Eyed Does Dairy Goats
Scroll down to her PVC mineral and soda feeders. Then realize that alfalfa pellets or grain, or whatever can be put in there. You can also increase the holding volume by using 6" PVC.
The design not only discourages waste, or the stuff being fouled, but also discourages rats and mice, especially if you hang it, rather than securing it to a pole. (Other options include securing it to a T-post, or securing it higher so that the plumber's tape does not provide a ready-access rodent bridge from pole to feeder opening.)
That's my contribution. We have a plethora of snakes, so barn rats and mice are not a problem.
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Excellent advice for the original question! 
__________________
Teach only Love...for that is what You are
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03/25/12, 11:38 PM
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Legally blonde!
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Join Date: May 2003
Location: Oregon
Posts: 3,315
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Oooh thanks CaliannG for that info! That is something I have to look into make...it looks like it could work really well . I have NO need to get another dog...I already have my puppy coming and that is enough for me. We are VERY careful with rat bait because I too have seen first hand what it does. Our rat population has never been as bad as this has been. We have put out like 10 different baits and I know the past two days the two in the barn have been empty (we are talking 4 full bars eaten and gone in 2 days).
Thank goodness for our large metal barrels we keep all our feeds in. Thank you everyone for the great suggestions!!!
Justine
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03/26/12, 12:51 AM
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Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: OKlahhoma
Posts: 1,020
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Minelson
Great excuse to get a new puppy!!
I have 5 outdoor cats..no rodent problems at all. (knocking on wood) And yes be very careful with the poison. We see dozens of dogs at the vet clinic with rat poisoning every year and some don't make it |
This may seem like a silly? but can cats get poisoned from killing and eating mice that have ingested poison?
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03/26/12, 06:38 AM
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: 50 miles southwest of Louisville
Posts: 726
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I vote for cats too. Lots of cats and no poison. We have 12+ barn cats and we have no rats or mice. They get Jersey milk and cream, old butter (they love butter), meat leftovers twice a day. Fun to walk to the barn with their ice cream tub of milk and food, with all of them following you, so funny. We take live traps to other farms that have too many, we trap them and bring them home. I love the cats and they do a great job here.
Dairy farms around here you see 20-30 cats sitting around all the time.
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03/26/12, 11:04 AM
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Lost in the Wiregrass
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Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: S.E.Alabama
Posts: 8,571
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when you poisen rats and mice, even though you keep the actual poisen safe from other animals, if a rat or mouse dies from the poisen in a place where a cat or dog or anything really can find and eat/chew on then the same poisen you kept safe from them originally can be injested and kill the cat or dog, if you have free range chickens and they find a dead rat or mouse they could be poisoned as well,
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