by Cynthia McFarland

Take a close look at many of the bucolic farm scene paintings of the 19th and 20th centuries, and you are likely to see dogs and cats around the barn. While the artist may have included them simply for aesthetics, the farm owner had them around for very good reason.

Far beyond companionship, dogs and cats have long served as “critter control,” if you will, helping to rid barns and farmyards of rodents and to keep wild animals away.

While farming practices have certainly changed with technology advancements, keeping pests out of feed and stable areas is still a concern for today’s farm owner. And yes, domestic dogs and cats still play a helpful role.

Preventing disease is a main reason to discourage birds, rodents, and other wild animals from coming in contact with horse feed, because their fecal matter can cause both feed contamination and environmental contamination. Rodents and other wild animals may carry several different diseases that can affect horses.

“Rats and mice seem to be the most problematic in feed rooms because they easily chew through wood, wires, et cetera,” observed Amanda M. House, D.V.M., assistant professor of large animal clinical sciences at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine. “However, birds, skunks, raccoons, possums, and other rodents are also capable of transmitting disease, mostly through fecal contamination.”

Keeping feed safe

Indiscriminate killing and poisoning of wildlife is not the solution. If mice, rats, and wild animals are frequent visitors, consider how you can make the area less attractive to them. Experts say that proper sanitation and eliminating feed sources can control up to 80% of pest-animal problems.

All feed should be stored in an enclosed room, preferably with a concrete floor. Doors should be kept securely closed. If feed is stored in bags, stack them on a pallet off the floor. If feed is stored in bins, they should have snug-fitting lids. Trash cans are often used on farms for feed storage, but they must be metal to prevent rodent access. Mice and rats can chew through even the toughest plastic containers. Use all the feed in a bin or container before adding new feed to avoid spoilage.

Sweep up any spilled grain in and around the feed room, and also in each stall on a daily basis.

For convenience’s sake, barn employees often use a large wheelbarrow or feed wagon to take it from stall to stall at feeding time. If the wagon is not emptied, it is often left in the barn until the next feeding. The remaining feed may or may not be covered. In these cases, danger of contamination from birds or pests exists.

Beyond keeping feed safe from contamination, another vital reason to store feed safely is to prevent horses from accidentally getting into it. Horses that manage to get out of their stalls or paddocks will invariably look for something to eat. Bags of feed, grain in feed wagons, and open or unsecured storage bins are invitations for a loose horse to gorge itself, which can lead to colic or founder. Do not court disaster by leaving feed in any area where a loose horse can possibly access it.

Many farms feed grain to horses at pasture in tubs or buckets, and also in creep feeder arrangements for foals. Be aware that this is a blatant invitation for birds and wild animals to scavenge spilled grain and possibly contaminate feeders and feeding areas. If you feel there is absolutely no alternative to feeding at pasture, clean all tubs and feeders frequently and never put out more feed than can be eaten at one time.

Buckets and automatic waterers in stalls should be emptied daily and cleaned. Regularly empty and scrub out water troughs at pasture. For a thorough cleansing, spray the interior with a solution of bleach and water; scrub and rinse thoroughly before refilling. This is especially important if wild animals are visiting water sources. Routinely checking pasture water troughs is also important because a small animal may fall in and drown, contaminating the water.

Discouraging visitors

You may be creating habitats for pests without even realizing it. Stacked firewood, old lumber or brush, open hay and bedding storage areas, and used feed sacks are found on most horse farms. Often, these are close to or even inside the barn, and all provide cover for rodents and other pests.

Dumpsters and trash cans should all have lids and be closed securely at night. Cover the drainage holes in trash containers with metal hardware cloth to keep rodents from entering at ground level even when lids are closed. Fruit trees are also inviting for wild animals, so pick up any fallen fruit from trees in the yard or near the barn.

Mouse and rat traps should be utilized before poison if you continue to have a problem in the barn. When placed in areas of travel, traps can be highly effective, and there is no risk of accidentally poisoning other animals.

Rodent poisons should be used only when absolutely necessary. Handle with care to keep them away from children and to avoid accidental or secondary poisoning of dogs, cats, and other farm animals. Secondary poisoning can occur when an animal eats a rat or mouse that has died from poison. For these reasons, use rodent poisons only if needed and always follow all label directions and cautions carefully.

Always take care and read labels when using pesticides around the barn, particularly in the feed room. In 2006, 28 horses at a Texas farm died after eating feed that was unintentionally poisoned by an on-farm pesticide application.

In some situations, ultrasonic devices can be helpful in driving rodents out of an area, but you still need to remove food and water sources. If you continue to have problems with wild animals after you have removed feed sources, you may need to call a company that specializes in removing troublesome animals. (Look under “animal control” in the phone-book classifieds.)Your local cooperative extension office is also an excellent resource for solutions in storing feed and discouraging animal pests.

Getting practical

“We store all our feed in an enclosed feed room with a concrete floor in the barn,” said Larry King, farm manager at Gilbert and Marilyn Campbell’s Stonehedge Farm South in Williston, Florida. “An enclosed store area is the best thing to keep varmint¬s and animals out. We really don’t have any problems with them.”

King said both feed and hay are ordered so that the farm maintains no surplus that would sit for long. Cats that frequent the barns make sure there is no mouse problem.

Buckets and automatic waterers in every barn are cleaned on a daily basis. Water troughs in each pasture are cleaned twice a week to keep them clean.
“I don’t know how you keep birds and wild animals from drinking out of them, so we make sure they’re cleaned regularly,” King said.

“All our grain is mixed by Harris Feeding Co., and we have it batched in four-ton batches,” said David McGlothlin, horse division manager at Harris Farms in Coalinga, California.

Harris Farms was established in 1937 and today is one of California’s leading agribusinesses. In addition to the Harris Farms Horse Division, which was established in 1966, there is Harris Ranch Beef Co., Harris Feeding Co., Harris Ranch Inn, Harris Ranch Restaurant, Harris Fresh, and the Harris Ranch Online Country Store.

Harris Feeding Co. is the largest cattle feeder on the West Coast with a 100,000-head feed lot. John C. ¬Harris, chairman and president of Harris Farms, is a prominent Thoroughbred breeder and vice chairman of the California Horse Racing Board.

“We have an equine nutritionist who has formulated different rations for the different classifications of horses,” McGlothlin said. “There is a five-ton tub mixer that is dedicated strictly to horse rations, and the feed for the horse division is mixed in that.”

Once mixed, the feed is stored in covered trailers that prevent birds and any varmints from contaminating it. Foals are creep fed at pasture, but they are fed in sufficiently small quantities that there is no carry-over from day to day, thus eliminating concerns over spoilage or contamination by wild animals.

Because of the lack of precipitation in the Coalinga area, spoilage is not a big concern when it comes to storing hay. All hay is stored under roof. Some hay barns have concrete floors; in those that do not, plastic sheeting is put down to prevent moisture from wicking up into the bottom row of bales and causing mold or spoilage.

“Our resident horse population is a little over 500 horses, so we go through such a quantity of hay that there’s a good turnover rate,” McGlothlin said.

Automatic pasture waterers are cleaned regularly, but McGlothlin noted that this is more to prevent any algae buildup during the warm months than for concern about birds or animals contaminating the water.

Cynthia McFarland is a Florida-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent