Burrowing Under Bales of Silage

farmer2018

I have noticed something has been burrowing under 8/9 bales of silage in the corner of a field. There seems to 3/4 burrows made around each bale. Would this be rats or has anyone experience of this?

Dunedin

farmer2018 wrote: »

I have noticed something has been burrowing under 8/9 bales of silage in the corner of a field. There seems to 3/4 burrows made around each bale. Would this be rats or has anyone experience of this?

Rats I’d say

gozunda

Yup rats more than likley. Could you move the bales as they will certainly cause damage over the winter

Keepgrowing

Rats most likely. Get 3/4 cores from the bale wrap, place some grain poison in them, place under bales.

Keep baited for 3 weeks, stop for 3 and then re bait, job solved

skooterblue2

Jack Russels are the final solution : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiwgCZ3LK9c

gozunda

Keepgrowing wrote: »

Rats most likely. Get 3/4 cores from the bale wrap, place some grain poison in them, place under bales.

Keep baited for 3 weeks, stop for 3 and then re bait, job solved

Saw problems with this previously. Rats didn't eat the poison but burrowed and carried the poison inside the bale - contaminating the whole thing.

Bass Reeves

gozunda wrote: »

Saw problems with this previously. Rats didn't eat the poison but burrowed and carried the poison inside the bale - contaminating the whole thing.

That wasmore than likely some one using loose blocks of bait. Rats will horde blocks it is important to either nail blocks to a timber lat inside a tube or better still place wire through them blocks and tie it in the tube.

Keepgrowing

gozunda wrote: »

Saw problems with this previously. Rats didn't eat the poison but burrowed and carried the poison inside the bale - contaminating the whole thing.

That’s why I suggested grain rather than blocks. Unless blocks are secured they will move them.

_Brian

Could be a neighbor burrowing in to get at the bales 😬

my3cents

_Brian wrote: »

Could be a neighbor burrowing in to get at the bales 😬

Here we go again https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=107123017

49801

Jeyes fluid poured around with a watering can is supposed to be very effective

gozunda

Keepgrowing wrote: »

That’s why I suggested grain rather than blocks. Unless blocks are secured they will move them.

The rats chewed the blocks up and carried them away into the bale. It was lucky that the blue was spotted once the bale was broken up tbh.

gozunda

my3cents wrote: »

Here we go again https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=107123017

And they were never heard from again :eek:

my3cents

gozunda wrote: »

And they were never heard from again :eek:

Well I hopes that's a lesson for the OP and that they get back and let us know what really was under those bales.

farmer2018

I like the jeyes fluid idea. Would they burrow into bales that are standing?

Bass Reeves

farmer2018 wrote: »

I like the jeyes fluid idea. Would they burrow into bales that are standing?

Would a pig eat meal

farmer2018

I know but would they tolerate the smell of the silage?

L1985

gozunda wrote: »

And they were never heard from again :eek:

I just read all 12pages and no answer!! Not frustrating at all...

ruwithme

I heard of rat's damaging bales that were stacked.couldn't believe it.damaged quite afew i was told. u,de imagine they would only be interested in good dry ones?

cute geoge

A few years back i had silage wilted to bale but it got a nice sup of rain just before baling .anyway at start of winter noticed some bales attacked in stack .They literally opened every one of these bales, chewed the plastic around the full barrell of the bale .Lucky i spoted it straight away and used them up first and had not much waste .I say when they got a taste of the sweet effluent they went biserk for them but never touched at other bales in stack

farmer2018

I don't see any plastic torn. These are only the bales on the ground they have burrowed under.

Angus2018

Late April a few years ago I picked up one of the last bales and a rat jumped out of it. The cats spend their day poking in around the silage stacks now.

farmer2018

Keepgrowing wrote: »

That’s why I suggested grain rather than blocks. Unless blocks are secured they will move them.

I have been told by a pest control company install bait boxes near the bales that will sort the problem. You need to make sure the poison is fixed in the bait boxes so the will eat it when they go in.

my3cents

farmer2018 wrote: »

I have been told by a pest control company install bait boxes near the bales that will sort the problem. You need to make sure the poison is fixed in the bait boxes so the will eat it when they go in.

Thats right, I have bait boxes out here under a few chicken sheds. Last thing I want to do is have the chickens eating the bait but thats never happened in the 5 years I've been doing this.

The problem is the proper bait boxes aren't cheap I think I pay about €15 each for them but with a wire that goes through the bait that clips into the back of the box its very difficult for the rats to remove the bait.

If you keep an eye on bait boxes at least weekly it should give you an idea of how many rats you have left. After a couple of weeks the amount of bait taken should drop. To keep the rat population down keep checking them and topping up the bait at least monthly. I've left them a few months before to find all the bait gone and the $%£^ing rats had used the bait boxes to nest in.