Mice and rats are looking for warmer digs and can sneak into any building anywhere. Elizabeth Ferry and Casey Zangaro write about pest control with a dairy view and their assertions fit scenarios animal health pros often encounter.
Rodents have been recorded to carry up to 45 diseases than can easily be transmitted to farm animals if they are in the same vicinity
Source: Dairy Herd Management, November 2, 2018. Link.
. . best practices to target rodents and mitigate harm to untended animals and the environment include:
- Keeping area clear of debris, old equipment, trash and junk.
- Denying access to food and water sources.
- Clearing area of harborage, places where rodents may live and feel protected.
- Removing and maintaining vegetation to allows for natural predators to have better access to rodents, helping to control the population.
- Creating and maintaining hard surfaces around the site or barn to prevent rodent burrowing.
- When needed, using physical or biological methods to help reduce and control the rodent population.
INSIGHTS: Attention distribution representatives! Consider updating your rodent control product knowledge and dedicate two or three minutes per call to the topic on every call through the holidays. You’ll likely discover unmet needs in a nice percentage of your accounts.