Vertebrate pest damage to wrapped, baled silage in Ireland

The scale of damage caused by vertebrates to the plastic wrap on baled sila ge was evaluated on Irish farms. A survey was conducted on 300 farms repres entative of farming systems and geographical locations throughout Ireland. The scale of damage was classified as farms with 0%, 1-10%, 11-50% or 51-10 0% of bales with holes in the plastic wrap caused by birds. The proportion of farms within these four classes with damage caused by birds during the s hort interval between wrapping and removal from the field to storage was 47 %, 37%, 15% and 1% of the total, respectively. Correspondingly, during the subsequent storage prior to feedout, bird damage was 37%, 50%, 12%, and 1%. Similarly, the proportions for damage throughout long-term storage due to cats were 71%, 23%, 6% and 0%, while the incidence of damage caused by rats , dogs and farm livestock was comparatively small. The stored bales were fe nced against livestock on 86% of farms, while netting, bale painting and ot her protection methods were used to discourage damage on 2%, 17% and 9% of farms, respectively. The damage caused by birds was more prevalent on farms where the bales were stored on their curved side rather than their flat en d, more than two tiers high and in farmyards rather than in fields. Cats da maged the sides and shoulders of the peripheral bales within bale collectio ns, particularly where wrapped bales were stored in the farmyard.