Our EEC Forest Stewardship team is hard at work keeping rodents out of the farm with sharp teeth and claws at the ready. But these nighttime warriors are also very affectionate with people, giving a cuddle and a purr when resting during the day on a porch chair or tucked under the house in cool shade. Marrow and Lucia are the veterans of the farm, fully grown and bulked up as outside animals with a good coat of thick fur now blowing out for the summer heat to come. Our newest member of the pride is Mogs, who was introduced earlier this spring. The brown tabby is now roaming outside with her fellow felines, learning the ropes of nighttime hunting while keeping a kitty eye on the sky for owls and hawks. She still comes in to feed a few times a day, and Val is a fun playmate on the porch. The two of them enjoy batting around at each other and sniffing each other in circles.
Though cats are master predators, they sometimes eat the birds, so we continue to encourage daytime resting and nighttime roaming by feeding first thing in the morning and leaving them hungry and ready to hunt at night. There are no mice around, and the rats can only establish if we humans are not paying attention to the out buildings. A spring infestation under our pole barn was cause for some painful flock losses, followed by a massive extermination project led by one of our residents who has worked in pest control and knows how to set up great bait systems that will not harm our domestic friends. By summer, the rats were eradicated, and Lucia is now sleeping at the barn, on guard for nocturnal disturbances and ready to pounce. We’ll keep bait traps with dated lables to monitor any unwelcome visitors. Dating the bait and checking it helps us know if rodents come in, when, and when the bait stops being fed upon, when the rodents are gone. It’s an important monitor when you have birds and grain on site.
EEC is still invested in cats and will be for the foreseeable future. The relationship between cats and people in agriculture goes back centuries, and we’re still opting for this age old relationship as part of our holistic management. Our pup Val is also on the prowl, using her digging skills to identify active rat holes and excavate any entrances with her own set of claws. She caught one rat in an early morning raid, and remains amped and alert when we go to the pole barn to check bait traps. In future, we might invest in a terrier type pup to roam as a night watch around the out buildings. For now, out cat team is on the hunt, and backed by some human ingenuity and K9 muscle. Gratitude for feline friends and all the work they lend, as well as companionship. We’ll keep investing in kitty power by introducing new friends to the farm about every 5-7 years. Lucia is still in her prime, and Marrow is only a few years behind. Mogs is the start of a new generation, and we’ll keep the count at 3 for now. When Lucia gets older, she’ll retire for her final years in the house, and another new cat will be introduced into the pride to keep our grain and birds safe for years to come.
EEC Forest Stewardship 