Rodent control is taking some interesting and not so encouraging turns. There is an initiative that will be introduced in California on the November 1998 ballot (assuming it gets the 500,000 signatures needed, which is a slam dunk in California). It is called an Initiative to Ban Cruel Traps. This initiative, in a nutshell, will make it illegal to use a body gripping trap. one that grips the mammals body or body part, including, but not limited to, steel-jawed leghold traps, padded-jaw leghold traps, Conibear traps, and snares. This initiative also states that, it is illegal for any person, including employees of the federal, state, county or municipal government, to use or authorize the use of any steel-jawed leghold trap, padded or otherwise, to capture any game mammal, fur-bearing mammal, non-game mammal, protected mammal, or any dog or cat.Now, stop and reread that paragraph and think about it for a minute. This initiative decides for us that we cant control agricultural fur-bearing pests any longer. For that matter, it specifically states that you cant trap anything that has fur on it for any reason, and that the U.S. Fish Wildlife Service, State Department of Fish Game and your local county ag commissioner or county trapper cant do it either. It does make provision for the protection of human health and safety (pretty considerate - you know how vicious those gopher and mole attacks on children have been lately), and it will allow you to use mouse traps in your basement. Oh, and by the way, it introduces two chemicals that can no longer by used - Compound 1080 and sodium cyanide. What are these used for? Well, its not rodent control. The state has been experimenting with these two chemicals for coyote control. They make a collar to put around a lambs neck. If the animal is unfortunate enough to be a victim of a coyote attack and the coyote punctures the collar its lights out for the sheep killer. The point here is precedent - get these two and then work your way on to household chemicals for insect and rodent control and sweep everything up in between.Since this is not a political editorial, all I can say is watch out for this one. Agriculture will lose big time, so tell a friend and lets make sure that we dont get tied down by bad law written by extremists. If you want a copy of this initiative yourself, again, hit me on the e-mail, and Ill send you a copy. You can read it yourself and decide on your own. I think it is very important that we dont make our decision based on whats on TV. Hollywood is anti-trapping and they have a lot of money to spend to support their position. If you want a recent case history lesson you may look at the fine State of Colorado, which had a similar initiative pass last year by a 51% margin. After the smoke cleared, it was disclosed that Hollywood spent just a little over a quarter million dollars to promote the initiative. All the local state and county representatives, combined with the agriculture and fur trapping industries, could muster was $48,000, and they lost.
A few weeks ago I was at a vineyard looking at some equipment that can be used with netting. After taking up two hours of the growers time we decided to head up to the tasting room and enjoy a little fruit of the labor. I had a couple of people with me who were from the Eastern part of the country and hadnt had a chance to taste some of the California wines, so they were more than happy to spend some time tasting, and buying, as it turned out. While we were working I had noticed a couple of other vehicles passing through, headed toward the tasting room as well. Once we entered, our host was immediately recognized. The first question out of everyones mouth was, What were you doing out there? When bird control was the answer, I could tell from the look on the faces present that we were in for a show. The next five to ten minutes were spent covering everything from propane cannons to netting to chemicals. The amount of misinformation was amazing. These people clearly felt that anything that had to do with bird control was a complete waste of time, irritating to look at and listen to. Why? Well because, those birds cant possibly be that damaging to your wine-grapes - theyre just little birds after all.When you have enough experiences like this you begin to get a feel for the public perception regarding animal damage control. As a grower or winemaker you are involved so heavily in the industry that some things are taken for granted. Everyone realizes that gophers, ground squirrels, starlings and finches are vineyard pests who damage grapes - right? Wrong. A very large percentage of your customers, lets say 75% conservatively, do not think you have any sort of problems with wildlife.What do you think of when you see a deer, or a covey of quail, or some cottontail rabbits in your vineyard? I can guarantee that the terms, Oh, how cute, or Hey, look at those deer dont usually come to mind. I cant print what usually comes to mind for most growers. However, for the people that we encountered in the aforementioned tasting room, as well as for a large percentage of your customer base, seeing wildlife is all part of the vineyard experience.
Pocket gophers are fossorial (burrowing) rodents–so named because they have fur-lined pouches outside the mouth, one on each side of the face. These pockets, which are capable of being fumed inside out, are used for carrying food. Pocket gophers are powerfully built in the forequarters and have a short neck; the head is fairly small and flattened. The forepaws are large-clawed and the lips close behind large incisors. This feature allows them to use their incisors for digging without getting a mouthful of dirt, a unique feature to gophers. There are over 30 species of pocket gophers in the Western Hemisphere. Pocket gophers vary in size from 5 1/2 inches in length to over 13 inches in length. Litter sizes vary from one to 10 but typically average three to four. In the northern part of their range they have one litter per year, as opposed to up to two in the southern ranges. Young gophers are dispersed above ground and are capable of swimming as well on the search for suitable habitat to begin new burrow systems. Pocket gophers feed in three ways: they feed on roots, above-ground vegetation, and they pull vegetation into their tunnel to be stored in food caches for later consumption. In the vineyard, pocket gophers girdle vines, damage roots systems (most often in new plantings), and cause multiple-irrigation problems by promoting erosion and damaging drip lines. They are solitary little beasts, vigorously maintaining and defending their tunnel system. Depending on the species and available habitat, gopher population density may vary from six to eight per acre, to up to 62 per acre. Gophers do not hibernate and only cohabitate during the breeding season The burrowing activity of one gopher produces up to 70 mounds in one month. So how do you control such an active but solitary rodent? The fact that a gopher is solitary works to your advantage. You have three basic pest management tools for gopher control: Biological control, chemical control and trapping.
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