Introduction
Rodents are quite common at livestock production sites. Their adaptability, high reproductive capacity and omnivorousness make them apt to become a source of disease transmission to humans and animals. Rodents can serve as mechanical vectors or active shedders of many bacteria and viruses, and their transmission can occur through direct contact, or indirectly through contaminated food and water or by the arthropods which parasitise infected rodents.

Elimination of rats and mice from livestock and poultry barns is extremely difficult. Most of the time they reproduce faster than you can eliminate them. Therefore it is preferable for producers to prevent infestations from occurring.

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Rats and mice have long been a problem on farms where food and nesting sites are plentiful. These animals consume and contaminate food destined for livestock and other animals, as well as humans

Harmful effects of rodents
The adaptability and agility of rodents make getting rid of them particularly difficult and damage comes in many forms:

1. Damage to buildings: Mice and rats will damage wood and electrical wiring, which can be a fire hazard.

2. Destruction of insulation: Many facilities show serious deterioration within five years, resulting in increased energy costs, re-insulation costs and poorer feed conversions by animals.

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3. Feed consumed: 100 rats will consume over one tonne of feed in one year.

4. Feed contaminated: A rat can contaminate 10 times the amount of feed it eats with its droppings, urine and hair. A rat produces 25,000 droppings per year, a mouse 17,000.

5. Biosecurity: Rodents are recognised as carriers of approximately 45 diseases, including salmonellosis, pasteurellosis, leptospirosis, swine dysentery, trichinosis, toxoplasmosis and rabies.

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Recognition of Rodents
There are many ways to recognise the presence of rodents such as droppings, tracks, gnawing marks, burrows, runways, grease marks, urine stains, rodent sightings, sounds and rodent odours.

Normally, we do not see rodents in the daytime. They are active at dusk and at night and hide during daylight hours. Daylight sightings indicate a large rodent population.

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How to control rodents

It is essential to eliminate rodents from farm facilities. A comprehensive rodent control programme must be applied on the farm. The following three methods should be used together at the same time to achieve good rat control:

1. Sanitation

Sanitation is very important to avoid rodent problems. Rodents come to farm facilities because they can get all of their basic needs met; including food, water and shelter.

You must create a condition to prevent them from reaching their basic needs at the farm. Rodents do not like exposed situations. Surround all buildings by a one to two metre wide concrete walk-way. Remove all rubbish and overgrown vegetation from outside the buildings and off the two metre walkway. Keep weeds and grass short and tidy around the farm. All rubbish must be placed in rodent proof containers.

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Clean up spilled feed immediately and dispose of it away from the farm. Ensure all bagged feed is stacked tidily on pallets off the floor and away from the walls. An adult rat will eat 15 grams a day (and contaminate even more) – with a 1,000 rats on the farm this is nearly 5 tonnes per year.

2. Rodent-proofing
Rodent proofing is recommended to keep rodents from entering your facilities. Determine the perimeter surrounding the houses and build a fence or install a zinc-sheet or other metal sheet to prevent rats from climbing the fence and house walls.
Electrical shockers can be placed around the house building, and some companies use double electrical shockers to keep poultry houses protected from rats.
Mice can travel through a 10mm diameter hole. Keep the gap between the doors and floors smaller than this to keep rodents from getting in. A hole that is as small as pencil diameter can be passed by mice.

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3. Poisoning and trapping
There are two types of poisons used for controlling rodents, i.e. anticoagulant and non-anticoagulant poisons. Anticoagulant has two generations. The first generation is Warfarin, Chlorophacinone, Diphacinone, Coumafuryl and Pindone. The second one is Brodifacoum, Bromodiolone and Difethialone. Most farmers use second generation poisons to control rodents.

A poisoning program should be maintained by placing bait stations surrounding the farm. Ideally, a bait station is placed every 20 meters around the chicken house building and in other farm facilities such as feed storage, farm office, worker shelters, etc.

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Trapping is an option too, especially when the rat population is high. You can buy many kinds of commercial mousetraps, or you can make them. Browse YouTube, and you will find many people sharing ideas for trapping rodents.

Conclusion
It is time to begin or increase rodent control techniques. Don’t wait until your flocks have serious diseases or problems which will be more costly. Remember that keeping rodents out is easier than getting rid of them.

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