Know the dangers of rodents

Rodents are a serious hazard, harboring and spreading up to 200 human pathogens and 45 diseases. Diseases include typhus, rat bite fever, Weil's disease, exanthematous ricketsiosis, leptospirosis, salmonellosis, rabies, and more. The route of transmission can be either droppings, urine, or saliva.

Rodents transmit diseases through their droppings, paws, fur, urine, saliva and blood affecting:

• Livestock, workers, and domestic animals.
• Feed and water used for healthy animals. The disease most frequently transmitted by rodents is Salmonella.

In addition, rodents pose a major impact on farm costs. One of the main reasons is due to the consumption and contamination of animal feed, as well as the structural damage and destructive fires they can cause.

Structural damage and destructive fires

Rural environments such as farms, with their abundant food, water, and shelter, become a very attractive habitat for rodents. In addition, these animals are predators of livestock offspring.
 

Livestock health, minimal contamination of grain and feed, and well-maintained facilities and buildings are crucial to a profitable business, but rodents can jeopardize everything.

Rodents cause significant damage on farms:

• Gnawed electrical wires: this often results in equipment malfunctions, network interruptions and even power outages. In some cases, it can even lead to dangerous fires.
• Damage to wall, floor, and ceiling structures: rodents gnaw through walls to find food and break down insulating building materials to nest among them.¹

Negative impact on operation costs

1 rat ingests and contaminates – 100 kg of stored grain and feed per year

200 rats ingest and contaminate – 20 tons of stored grain and feed per year

Feed represents between 60% and 75% of operation costs on a farm

Each year rodents consume and contaminate 20% of the world's food supply².

Sources:

1: http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/pcpestcntrl.htm

2: https://www.pestworld.org/news-hub/pest-articles/fascinatingfactsyou-never-knew-about-mice/

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