Vertebrate pest damage to wrapped, baled silage in Ireland

The scale of damage caused by vertebrates to the plastic wrap on baled silage was evaluated on Irish farms. A survey was conducted on 300 farms representative of farming systems and geographical locations throughout Ireland. The scale of damage was classified as farms with 0%, 1-10%, 11-50% or 51-100% 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 short 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 fenced against livestock on 86% of farms, while netting, bale painting and other protection methods were used to discourag...