You may have doubts about using some of those anti-rodent poisons around your house or working farm. It was suggested here recently that in earlier times, cats, which lived in the outhouses and barns and were looked after by the farmer's wife, could keep rats and mice under control, even at harvest time when a lot of oats or wheat might be spilled around the yard. Anyway, in the course of a diverting letter a couple of weeks ago, Anthony Lowry, from his place Bachelor's Lodge Stud, on the road from Navan to Kells, which incorporates farm and riding school, has a relevant anecdote.
"I set out to tidy up a section of one of our hay barns. Almost immediately my son unearthed a very well and snugly concealed nest of kittens - six little mites about two days old. The cat who bore them belongs to our daughter, Naomi, who is in France for a few weeks; nevertheless she is phoning nightly for news of her pet. We knew the cat had kittened but had no inkling where. So we were delighted and calculated that this would bring our cat numbers up to 18. Yes, Anthony Lowry (senior) has a bit of a weakness for cats and so tends to see that they are well fed, etc. However, we do have the scope.
"Now, very interestingly, ten minutes later my son then unearthed a rat nursing 11 ratlings. Again, almost new-born, quite naked and rather pathetic looking. We stepped the distance from nest to nest - six paces. So the picture I'm painting shows that we have 12 adult cats - yet the above phenomenon can and did, occur. How now those of us, relying on cats to keep the rodents under control? (Maybe a pair of barn owls?)
Non-farmers who live where rats are a constant, as, for example, near a river, may nevertheless still have qualms about laying down poisons which, no matter what the manufacturers say, are dangerous if they happen to get into water for human consumption. For many people still rely on their own well for drinking water.