The Rural Voice, 2003-11, Page 18Smith has several tools for dealing
with Canada Goose damage. One of
the best is crop rotation. "Most
wildlife don't like change, and geese
are no exception. By rotating crops,
geese looking for nesting sites don't
get used to a particular crop being
there."
Another tool is not swathing
grain. "Swathed grain is a
smorgasbord for geese. They land on
the swath, pack it down, and make it
difficult for the combine to pick up."
Brian estimates one third is lost to
trampling, another third eaten,
leaving only a third as harvest yield.
In damp weather, swathed grain
sprouts, adding to the loss. So .. .
don't swath if you don't have to."
Soybeans no -tilled into
cornstalks offer perfect habitat
for geese. Harvest loss of corn
offers food for geese seeking nesting
sites in the spring. Later, both
goslings and adults will eat the new -
growth beans. Smith has successfully
used scarecrows (as simple as a cross
of 2x2 stakes covered with a garbage
bag) and flashtape to discourage
nesting geese. "Anticipate problems
and discourage nesting in the first
place," he advises.
Smith doesn't consider an 80 -acre
field with a half dozen pair of geese a
problem. However, large flocks of
migratory geese feeding on a newly
emergent bean field are another
story.
"One year I had a bean field with
at least 1,000 geese. I scared them
twice and they moved on.
Fortunately the beans weren't up
enough to suffer serious damage, but
they could've stripped the field if
they had stayed. I learned later they
were likely juveniles moving through
in a group. Migrating geese don't
stay long, but they can cause
extensive damage while they're here.
You have to keep your eyes on your
crops."
Raccoons and porcupines can do
significant damage around the edge
of a cornfield, causing damage that's
often blamed on deer. Smith finds,
"About the only thing you can do to
lessen their damage is reduce the
amount of edge •on your corn
acreage."
The bigger your fields, the less the
amount of edge. Smith explains, "A
hundred acres split up into smaller
fields can be very limiting
14 THE RURAL VOICE
economically. Input costs are greater,
there are decreased field efficiencies
moving equipment, and an increased
percentage of the cropped land is
susceptible to wildlife damage."
Deer can cause substantial
damage in certain crops, as orchard
growers know only too well. So
don't plant what they like next to
optimum habitat, especially winter
deer yards. Smith had this blatantly
brought home to him when he
planted winter canola on a 40 -acre
field bordered by natural habitat,
including a cedar bush.
He seeded the winter canola in
late August. In December the rosettes
were well formed, and he was
looking forward to a good yield.
Turns out the deer had the same idea
"Most
wildlife don't
like change,
and geese
are no
exception."
in terms of a harvest. "In the spring,
they were lined up ready to nip off
the rosettes as the snow melted,"
observed Smith. Deer nip the rosette
below the growing tip, effectively
killing the plant. He's since switched
to spring canola, which the deer don't
bother.
Staying ahead of wildlife damage
includes keeping an eye out for
potential new offenders, and Smith
already has one in his sights. "Wild
turkeys could be 'ruling the roost',
when it comes to future damage.
They'll eat anything — grass or grain.
They scratch up plants and make dust
beds in the sand. It's going to get
worse as their populations grow."
Bob Brassington, a Markdale-area'
farmer and custom operator and
regional director for the Ontario
Federation of Agriculture is a strong
critic of the Ministry of Natural
Resources for its reintroduction of
the species. Last year he had about
40 of the birds making their home in
his bush and foraging into his crops.
Since then they've seemed to
disappear from his home farm but
turkeys still are causing problems on
some of his rented land. Farmers he
combines for complain bitterly about
the losses on their farms, he says.
It wasn't supposed to be this way.
When Ministry of Natural Resources
announced plans for reintroducing
wild turkey across the province
farmers were assured the big birds
preferred to eat beechnuts, bugs and
other food from woodlots, not crops.
The birds were also not supposed to
congregate in large flocks but spread
out over a larger territory, but
farmers like Brassington are finding
them in large numbers.
Effective tools for dealing with
wild turkey damage remain to be
seen, says OSCIA. Natural predation
may help, but predator populations
are currently low. Hunting may also
help if proponents can overcome the
existing deterrents of cost, gun
legislation and waning interest
among younger hunters. Some
farmers feel that the organizations
involved in reintroducing species,
such as wild turkey, should share
responsibility for this type of
damage.
Giant Canada Geese are another
reintroduced species with 1,000
being released in the late 1960s.
Since then the population has
exploded to 400,000 and rising.
OSCIA's survey showed geese
accounted for 40 per cent of wildlife -
caused losses in both wheat and
forages, 18 per cent in soybeans and
seven per cent in corn.
Brassington remembers one year
when he lost half of a 10 acre field to
geese. "We like this wildlife but
there's a limit to what we can afford
to lose," he says.
Andrew Taylor, wildlife officer
with the Canadian Wildlife Service
advises understanding the biology of
geese in order to discourage their
damage. He suggests reducing the
attractiveness of your property as a
rearing site for geese, areas where
adults move their broods after
hatching to feed on newly planted
crops like corn and soybeans or Targe
areas of freshly mown grass.
Encourage a natural barrier of brush
and shrubs around ponds and
wetlands adjacent to fields, CWS
says. The denser vegetation reduces
visibility of the surrounding
landscape, provides predator habitat
and consequently discourages geese
from selecting the area as a nesting or
rearing site. .
Some lag 1owners figure that the
best way -f keep wildlife out of the
crops you want is to feed them