People may not have been farming 11,000 years ago, but they knew the importance of good grain storage.
Recent work by researchers has revealed that 1,000 years before humans began selecting and planting seeds and domesticating cereal crops, they were harvesting grain and storing it in granaries with dryer floors and hopper bottoms.
It appears that cereal grain was collected and stored in bulk by the inhabitants of Dhra’ in what is now Jordan. In this village along the Dead Sea, people built granaries and grain processing buildings between their houses to provide them with safe, year-round storage of wild barley harvested from the Jordan Valley.
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Calling them dryer bins with hopper bottoms may be over-stating the design, but the Neolithic people built suspended and sloped floors into their granaries with air circulation underneath.
Indiana researcher Ian Kuijt and Bill Finlayson of the Council for British Research in the Levant in Amman, Jordan, say the granaries, the oldest known, indicate an important social shift in the relationship between people and food. The anthropologists say that with grain storage came the ability to remain in a location outside a single food season.
The researchers propose that these hunting and gathering communities took the next step in encouraging wild harvests by sowing seed on suitable land nearby the community.
This created opportunities later for food grain selection and cultivation.
The suspended floor was designed to keep grain dry and prevent the development of fungal diseases and insects.
Walls were built of stone and mud bricks. Mud was used to waterproof the tops of the granaries.
“It appears a temper has been incorporated into the mud, highlighting the careful manufacture of the building and large scale harvesting,” said Kuijt of the University of Notre Dame.
Wild barley and wild oats was stored in later buildings at nearby Gilgal; while more round buildings of the same size and age are located at Jericho.
Lentils were also known to have been collected and domesticated here.
Rats have been known to chew through lead pipes, so a plastic grain storage bag is no obstacle to a rat invasion, said Saskatchewan pest control co-ordinator Travis Quirk.
Once inside, the rats turn the bag and its contents into more than just a source of food. They tunnel around and turn it into their home, their restaurant – and their toilet.
According to the publication Rat Control in Saskatchewan, one rat can eat up to 40 kilograms of grain in a year.
The bigger problem is that the feces and urine from one rat can contaminate up to 400 kg of grain in a year. This contaminated grain might be dispersed throughout different areas of a grain bag.
Depending on how far they burrow and how long they are inside, rat feces inside a 12,000 bushel bag can turn the contents into garbage, said Quirk.
Even if farmers check the bags weekly or daily, once the rat hole is open at ground level, it’s likely that the rodents are inside and the damage is done.
How does the invasion start? “It typically starts with ravens and crows landing on top of the bag,” said Quirk.
“Their talons or claws make a little rip at the top of the bag. They see food inside and they naturally start eating. Some grain spills to the ground and now the ball is rolling.”
Once this happens, the feed trough is open. Rats, mice, raccoons, wild boars, deer and every other animal with a nose gets the invitation for free food.
“Deer start pawing at the bag with those sharp hoofs and that really opens it up. Deer are smart. They learn things very easily.
“Once deer have fed from a grain bag or forage bag for the first time, they know that every other big, white plastic bag in any field anywhere in their territory is filled with food that’s free for the taking.”
Although deer don’t get inside the bag, they eat a lot of grain. More importantly, they create big openings for the rats.
For rat control, Quirk said some producers have had success putting bait stations around the bags. Rats eat the poison and hopefully die before getting into the grain bag.
“Just like any other animal, rats need food, shelter and water. The grain bag provides them with food and shelter, but not the water.
“They’ll travel about 100 yards for water, so your bags should be at least that far from the nearest water source. You always want the maximum distance between the grain bag and water.”
For more information, contact a municipal pest control co-ordinator or call Travis Quirk at 306-298-7222.
