Rats in the barn can be a real nuisance. They chew wires in tractors,
leave droppings everywhere and contaminate and ruin animal feed. What
to do? Poisoning can reduce their numbers. However, you might not want
to put poison down where your cats, dogs and chickens roam free as it
will hurt them too if they eat it.
Trapping can work well
but you've only got to miss one rat for the problem to continue. You
could try blocking up all the holes in the barn but you might find it
rather challenging and a large one could have hundreds. Some of them
could be totally inaccessible making the process pointless. If you miss
just one hole the
rats are bound to find it. If you do decide to block
the holes make sure you use very hard material such as concrete, cement,
brick, stone or metal.
In response to this problem
Hammer Technologies developed a new type of rat deterrent. It consists
of a special floor which repels rats very effectively. This can be used
in the perimeter
around the edge of a building to keep the rats at bay.
Rat's
teeth don't stop growing throughout their lives. This is the reason for
them endlessly chewing on wires, tubes and other materials to sharpen
them and grind down. The other reason that's chew is to find food and
shelter. They open up holes to let themselves into areas and create
runs. They also chew their way into food bins to find food, often
spoiling the food in the process.
Droppings, urine
and oily marks are clues as to the location of the rat's runs. This can
be a good place to start when you are blocking up the holes. Make sure
doors fit in the frames.