Some funds will also go toward beaver control
Saskatchewan farmers and rural municipalities are getting a little more government help this year to deal with pests.
The federal and provincial governments announced March 14 at the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities convention they will contribute $1.8 million to help control beavers, rats, wild boar and gophers.
The bulk of the money is for a rat control program, which SARM administers. The governments are contributing $1 million to the program, up from $750,000.
Grant Peeling, provincial co-ordinator for the Provincial Rat Eradication Program, said that will represent close to 20 percent of the actual cost to RMs.
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Last year, the average grant per RM through PREP was $1,860, while the average cost of control was $11,000.
Peeling said the rat population is changing. The rodents are heading into fields as old, messy yard sites are cleaned up and large steel bins replace old wooden grain bins.
“There aren’t as many hot spots,” Peeling said of the population.
“They’re getting entrenched in the fields.”
Continuous cropping has helped sustain rats that needed new sources of food.
Dugout banks and other places are also now home to rats that previously would have lived in old buildings.
Peeling said this past warm winter was actually hard from a rat’s perspective because a lack of snow cover meant predators could easily spot them.
“They do not hibernate,” he said.
He added that the cleanliness of a yard site doesn’t always indicate whether rats are present.
“The cleanest yard can have them and the most messy yard won’t.”
Cluttered yards often provide cover for both rats and their predators, while clean yards don’t allow predators to hide as easily, which makes it more attractive to rats.
The governments also contributed $500,000 to extend last year’s beaver control pilot program for another year. This program is also administered by SARM.
Fewer beaver pelts taken by trappers coupled with more water throughout the province have allowed rodents to thrive and cause a lot of damage.
The wild boar control program will get its usual $50,000 annual grant to help hunt wild boar that escaped from farms and now run wild.
Delegates passed a resolution asking the province to ban wild boar game farm hunting — at least one hunt farm has suggested it wants to add boar within its boundaries — and put stricter controls in place for wild boar producers.
Delegates also learned that the federal Pest Management Regulatory Agency has permanently approved the use of two percent liquid strychnine for gopher control.
SARM president David Marit said the decision will have a big impact.
“They’ll have some rules around it and that’s fine, but we just didn’t want to have to go back year after year for emergency use of it,” he said.
“Now (farmers and ranchers) know they can go out and control hot spots and next year they can get the product again.”
