RODENT CONTROL
Spiralling rat numbers controlled using new rodenticide A Scottish farm was forced to seek help from a professional pest controller when rat numbers spiralled out of control. Rats were seen in large numbers running away from the combine towards the farm’s cow sheds during this year’s harvest. Shortly after, rats were also spotted running across the slurry crust below the slatted floors of the sheds. This confirmed that rats had moved onto the farm and it now had an infestation. James Milligan farms at Culvennan Farm near Castle Douglas. The 200-acre farm is largely cereals with some grazing for heifers, which are sold on. “I farm in partnership with my brother Andrew and father Michael. We have chosen to focus on arable and don’t milk here anymore, but we have retained the sheds for sucklers and heifers which we sell on,” he explains. James further explains that the farm has had problems with rats in the past and that he has brought in the help of local pest controller John Galloway of South West Pest Control before. “John has been working with us for nearly twenty years but in the last few years rat numbers have increased and he has been spending more time trying to control them,” he says.
Pest controller, John Galloway, has successfully controlled rats at Culvennan Farm using Storm Ultra Secure®
John Galloway has been a pest controller for 26 years. Now 68, he is looking to retire, but is able to reflect on the problems he has had with rats locally. “Culvennan Farm is like so many in this area. Nobody wants to think they have a rat problem, but if left alone rats can breed so quickly that their numbers can be uncontrollable for farmers,”
Bait boxes were positioned around the permitter of buildings
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he says. “The area near Castle Douglas is perfect for rats. The river acts like a motorway. The rats come up the banks to feed in the fields, like visiting a service station. When the crops are harvested and the temperature begins to drop, the rats seek shelter in farm buildings and that’s when the problems start,” he adds.
Culvennan Farm is close to the River Dee, situated in an area with a network of ditches and banks around rich arable land that make it an easy target for rats. In more recent years Mr Galloway has found controlling rat numbers more challenging. “Last year I started with a bromadiolone bait and it had almost no effect. The rats were eating plenty of it, but
Rats were sighted moving below the slats of the cow sheds
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