Today we headed to a pig farm we have had multiple visit to over the last 18 months.
We have had 250 plus days there in the past and regularly take over 150 in a session. Today we spent four hours going over the straw bales and loose straw that is used for bedding and shelter for the pigs.
The pig shelters line the field and have recently been moved and cleaned ready for the next pigs to move in. The first field we worked demonstrated just how quickly the rats move on. The left over food had been eaten by the rats and they had moved off. We managed to get 45 in the loose straw. If we had visited a week ago this would have likely been a couple of hundred.
We decided to go and have a mooch about on a small area on an adjacent field where there was a more readily available food source. The rats had moved in despite the pigs only being there for a couple of weeks!
We found ourselves pushing bales over and working through the loose straw where the dogs marked.
Whilst the rats where not enormous they really put a fight up against the dogs… they were strong and healthy!!
Another 80 plus rats taken.