Keep mice and rats away
How to effectively repel harmful rodents from your farm.
A must on farms in order to comply with important hygiene standards: Controlling mice and rats. The tips from our experts will help you to detect and drive away these harmful rodents at an early stage.This and all other important terms can be found in the glossary
Note
Use biocidal products with care. Always read the label and product information before use.
Seven helpful tips against rats
In autumn, as soon as the fields have been harvested and it gets cold, rats look for warm places to spend the winter. Check your farm regularly from this point onwards. You can recognise that rodents are making themselves at home by rat burrows, paths, droppings and feeding traces. As soon as you discover the first signs, immediately set up bait boxes with rodenticides. Rats reproduce quickly - up to 1,000 rats can be born per pair per year.
Rats are very shy and only come out when your farm is quiet. You should therefore carry out another inspection in the late evening when it is dark. Take a close look at feed silos and cluttered corners where you store your equipment. This is the best way to assess the situation. If you see a rat during the day, you can assume that there is a high level of infestation.
Make sure that everything around the stables is tidy and that waste and rubbish is disposed of regularly. It is also advisable to create a gravel bed around the hutch instead of shrubs, hedges or other plants. This will provide rodents with neither protection nor a place to nest.
Rats seek shelter and therefore usually run along walls or piles of wood. Always wear gloves when filling the bait boxes. This will prevent human odour from being transferred to the bait boxes.
Rats are very wary of new food sources. If the rodents accept the bait, top up continuously. Paste baits such as
Desintec BrodEx pasteDesintec BrodEx pasteFor information: A rat consumes around 30 to 50 grams of food per day, 100 rats eat around three to five kilograms per day.
If you suspect that the rats have developed resistance to the active substance, do not change the product. It is better to use an active ingredient with a higher potency level. For example, brodifacoum and difethialone have a higher potency level than difenacoum and bromadiolone. Do not use a product with several single active ingredients or several products with different active ingredients at the same time. This will prevent the rats from developing further resistance.
Rodent control is very complex and time-consuming. Document how much effort you invest and what results you achieve. If you realise that you cannot make any progress on your own, hire a professional pest controller.
