Banish Bugs & Rodents
As horse owners, we often wrongly believe we are destined to put up with flies and insects. Encouraging insect-eating birds to move into your yard and barn area by providing habitat is an excellent means for reducing the flying insect population. Swallows, for example, can be a tremendous asset to horse places-one swallow consumes thousands of insects per day. During the spring and summer, violet green, cliff, and barn swallows can be seen and heard diving, darting, and chirping on horse properties throughout much of the United States. These happy birds will use horse and dog hair set out in tufts for making their nests. Nesting boxes specific to the type of swallows in your area can be built or purchased and placed according to recommendations. Consult the source list for bird nest boxes in this article for more information. Other types of insect-eating birds include many other types of swallows, bluebirds, and purple martins.
Reduce the nocturnal insect population by encouraging bats to take up residence nearby. Bats play an important part in every healthy environment and will eat the nocturnal flying insects that plague our horses (and us) at night, such as mosquitoes. One bat can eat hundreds of mosquitoes in an hour. They also eat other agricultural pests, such as corn borers, cutworm moths, potato beetles, and grasshoppers.
In Europe, bats are highly valued for their insect control capabilities and are reported to have been protected for more than 60 years. Europeans build and display bat houses much the way we build purple martin houses in the Midwest.
Bat houses can be placed on a barn, pole, tree, or the side of a house. The best habitat for bats is within a half-mile of a stream, lake, or wetland. Bat houses need to be placed by early April and it can take up to two years for a bat colony to find your house. Contrary to popular belief, most bats do not carry rabies. You have a better chance of winning your state lottery than getting bitten by a bat with rabies, according to the Organization for Bat Conservation website, www.batconservation.org.
Encourage larger birds, such as owls, hawks, and falcons, which prey on problem rodents, by protecting large trees and snags that provide housing for these predators. Some of these birds will also do well in nest boxes, which again are easy to buy or build-check the resource lists in this article for specifics. The primary method for protecting trees is to plant outside of confinement areas and pastures to keep trees away from livestock teeth and hooves. Trees inside these areas should be protected to the end of their "drip zone," or the tips of their branches. Protection around trees can be constructed in several creative ways, including fencing and physical barriers of large rocks or logs.
Some plants, including natives, can be toxic to horses. Here are a few resources on this important subject.
• Weeds of the West by Tom D. Whitson
• Horse Owner's Field Guide to Toxic Plants by Sandra Burger
• Cornell University maintains an excellent website that lists toxic plants: http:// www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/horselist.html
• Most counties have a noxious weed control department. These departments can usually identify toxic and non-native plants, as well as recommend control techniques. Also try contacting your local conservation district or cooperative extension service office.
Go Native for Beauty & Fun
Native plants can provide attractive landscaping while sheltering and providing food for wildlife that serenade and entertain us. Watching wildlife in action can be fun and relaxing for everyone. Your habitat may attract beautiful songbirds, butterflies, frogs, and other interesting wildlife for viewing-right outside your barn door. The addition of a simple watering point, such as a stock tank with "steps," will further encourage birds and wildlife.
All this just might increase your property value, too. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Office of Migratory Bird Management reports that homes in neighborhoods with large trees for birds are worth more than similar homes in neighborhoods without trees.
So make a plan to "go native" and see how native plants and animals can become beneficial workers on your horse property today!
