Rodents like mice and rats can pose a huge threat to a farming operation. They damage property, contaminate feed, and create major health risks by spreading bacteria and viruses. All this can leave a farm with structural problems, increased feed costs, and open to biosecurity threats .

Did you know rats and mice destroy $30 billion in food products annually ? If that isn’t enough, they are also to blame for the bubonic plague in the Dark Ages. The fleas that carried the bacteria were transferred on the backs of rats. Yuck.

If those stats don’t convince you mice and rats are a problem , I doubt anything will.

Now, a rodent infestation on your farm will likely not cause such widespread pandemonium as the plague, but, like the statistics suggest, you may start seeing dollar signs fly out of your pocket if you don’t focus on rodent control in agriculture .

Let’s chat about the risks rats and mice create and what you can do to control those risks.

Biosecurity Risk from Rodents

From a veterinarian’s perspective, the major risk of a mouse or rat infestation is disease transfer. In the United States, common rodents such as the house mouse, Norway rat, and the roof rat can carry and transmit over 35 diseases to both humans and animals. Diseases like salmonella, campylobacter, and leptospirosis —hardly the things you need running rampant in your hog barn or chicken houses.

Rodents can spread these diseases in a few different ways. Like with the plague, they may carry the parasites that infect your animals. More often, however, they will transmit diseases through their feces and urine.

They burrow their way into feed bins , searching for food, and inevitably leave droppings. The feed is then contaminated and, if fed, opens your animals up to infection. Keeping rodents away will help prevent rodent-borne diseases in livestock and will save on feed and treatment costs.

Now that you know the risks, you may be asking the question: What are my options for rodent infestation solutions?

Controlling Rodents

The first measure to take when it comes to rodent infestation solutions is controlling the environment.  Neogen® , manufacturer of effective rodenticide products, recommends dealing with an infestation by first taking preventative biosecurity measures.

They recommend eliminating debris, cleaning up spilled feed, and clearing and mowing around the entrance to the facility with problems. By controlling the environment, not only will you discourage additional rodents, but your other rodent-proofing farm structures measures will also be more effective.

Once you have controlled the environment, you have a couple of options for rodent control in agriculture :

Encouraging natural rodent predators on farms like birds or even adopting a cat can be a good idea; an owl can eat upwards of 3,000 mice a year. However, this solution is unlikely to stop an active infestation, and introducing new animals can bring their own share of biosecurity problems to your farm.

Traps are the oldest tools in the book. You can try the old-fashioned pedal traps, use a glue trap, or even the “walk the plank” style trap. All can be effective but are better suited for a small mouse problem in your home rather than a major infestation in or around your barn.

What we recommend you consider is using a tested and proven rodenticide system .

Using a Rodenticide

 Neogen®  has developed a multi-product rotation for rodent control to help control and eliminate mice and rats in your barn. Its rotation uses three active ingredients to stop mice and rats in their tracks and to break the cycle of rodent anticoagulant resistance.

It’s a complete rodent control system.

• The first product in the system is  Havoc XT® rodenticide. It contains the strongest anticoagulant rodenticide on the market—Brodifacoum. It comes in both pellets and blocks and is to be used around your facility for the first four months of the 12-month rodent control rotation.
• The second product is  CyKill® rodent bait. Its active ingredient is Bromethalin, a neurotoxin rodenticide. This is the ingredient that provides the “one-two punch” in the Neogen rodent control products system. It is to be used for four months following the Havoc XT rodenticide treatment.
• The third product in the system is Di-Kill® rodent control. Its active ingredient is the anticoagulant Difenacoum, the latest in effective rodenticide products. It has been shown to knock down rodents in 4-6 days. It is to be used for the last two months of the rotation.

In addition to these three products, Neogen® recommends  Havoc® Rodenticide Bait in feed storage areas, like elevators or granaries. It contains feed ingredients like oats, alongside the active rodenticide agent, to first attract and then stop mice and rats quickly.

Purchasing a Rodenticide

At best, a rat or mouse problem on your farm is a nuisance. At worst, it poses a biosecurity threat to your operation and can result in lost profitability. In order to get control of your rodent infestation or stop the problem before it starts, we recommend you check out these Neogen® rodent control products on our website or speak to a QC Supply® representative to start a customized rodent control plan.

Like they say, the only good rat is a dead one! Let us know in the comments your results with the Neogen® rodenticide system.