Dairy Management Specialist / Washington State University
Have you heard? The recent mysterious illness affecting cattle within the U.S. is avian influenza, and the supply is wild birds. We knew these pest birds had been inflicting issues on farms, however I didn’t count on them to develop into the basis trigger for a severe cattle well being concern. My analysis workforce has been finding out pest hen administration on dairies for over eight years, and we now have discovered just a few tips that we want to share with you.
Below are some highlights from our pest hen administration analysis.
- Seasonality: Pest hen prevalence on dairies within the U.S. is usually seasonal, wherein birds typically inhabit dairy barns through the colder months after which transfer outside as soon as the temperatures rise. Regardless of your cow housing system, pest birds will eat and spoil cattle feed on the feedbunk and your saved feed, except you’ve efficient hen deterrence strategies in place.
- Bird species: European starlings, pigeons, sparrows and crows are essentially the most generally noticed pest birds on dairies. It is essential to know which species are most distinguished in your farm so you may select an acceptable deterrence technique. Let me know for those who need assistance figuring out the species, as our workforce has develop into fairly adept at hen identification.
- Feed loss: A research we revealed in 2019 estimated the cost of feed loss from pest hen consumption to common round $55 per cow per 12 months. This estimate focuses purely on hen consumption of feed on the feedbunk and doesn’t embrace any spoilage of feed. Do you already know the full cost of feed losses from hen depredation in your farm?
- Dissemination of illness: Pest birds carry many sorts of micro organism and viruses of their fecal matter and even on their ft. Obviously, birds transfer from farm to farm, rising the unfold of pathogens. This is how scientists consider the avian influenza pressure inflicting well being points in cattle began. Finding strategies to scale back cattle publicity to wild birds, together with their fecal matter, is important to minimizing their impact on cattle well being.
- Implementing deterrence strategies: If there may be one piece of recommendation that you must hear, it’s that implementing pest hen deterrence strategies must happen when hen prevalence in your farm is low. For most dairies with freestall barns, for instance, implementing deterrence strategies in the summertime months is right as a result of the birds will not be inhabiting the barns. Once birds set up an evening roost in a barn, it turns into drastically harder to get them out.
- Investing in hen deterrence: How a lot must you put money into hen deterrence in your farm? Only you may reply that query. If you might be uncertain about feed loss, you should utilize 4.4% loss as a great place to start out. The losses which can be harder to calculate are potential cattle morbidity/mortality from hen publicity. Once you’ve an honest estimate of your losses from pest hen harm, you’ll really feel extra snug selecting a deterrence technique. Be ready – your cost of pest hen harm could shock you.
- Lethal strategies: Lethal strategies of deterrence could also be interesting, however ensure you think about the potential penalties. Shooting pest birds is a well-liked deterrence technique; nevertheless, most farmers report the strategy as solely “somewhat effective.” Using poison for hen deterrence is an alternative choice, however then you definately run the chance of unintentionally inflicting hurt to useful hen species or different non-target animals.
- Unpredictability of deterrence strategies: Contrary to what many consider, birds are literally very sensible. Any hen deterrence technique you employ must be unpredictable for the birds, in any other case they’ll develop into acclimated to it and it’ll lose its effectiveness. A terrific instance I can share got here from a winery. The farmer employed knowledgeable falconer to maintain the pest birds out of his winery. Everything labored superbly till the birds began to affiliate the presence of the falconer’s truck with the presence of the falconer’s raptors. Hence, the birds began flying away when the truck confirmed up after which returning after the truck left. Birds are sensible.
- Lasers: Could lasers be used to discourage birds from establishing night time roosts in freestall barns? Maybe. We performed a research final 12 months to take a more in-depth take a look at this concept. We had restricted success, however we discovered just a few classes that will make lasers an efficient technique in your farm. In our case, the lights within the freestall barns at nightfall had been pretty vivid, which decreased the brightness of the lasers. This could also be one thing you wish to think about in case you are lasers as an answer to your pest hen downside.
- Native raptors: Several native raptor populations are declining, whereas invasive species populations (European starlings) are rising. Employing nest packing containers and perches in your farm for native raptors could appeal to them and, finally, deter pest birds from inhabiting your farm. If this concept pursuits you, we now have a factsheet available that will help you think about this selection.
Pest birds trigger severe issues on dairies. Now is a superb time to guage the effectiveness of your hen deterrence strategies and to make plans for holding birds off your farm. It is a win-win for you and your cows.