Independence Homestead

Last summer was a crazy time. Summer is always a crazy time on the homestead, but last summer had the added aspect that we were expecting a baby in the fall. With juggling all this, we started having a mouse problem. With so much livestock feed, it was inevitable that this would happen eventually. Honestly, we were fortunate to have gone so long without getting mice in the yard and garage.

First, it was key to minimize all food sources for the mice. We already keep open feed in metal cans, which works well. The biggest food source for mice was probably spilled feed, so we stepped up our game at sweeping and cleaning up.

Then we evaluated our choices for mouse eradication. We figured our options were poison, traps, or cats. Poison was off the table; we didn’t want any of our animals to accidentally get poisoned by eating the poison itself or to eat a dead mouse filled with poison. Traps seemed like a viable option, and we were hesitant to expand into another animal with cats at the time. So we tried traps first.

The traps took care of a lot of mice. We loved these traps as they were effective and very easy to use. While the traps were great, they were not enough. We still had mice. So it was time to pull out the big guns!

Independence Homestead expanded by two barncats! We adopted them from the Humane Society’s barn cat rescue program, and would highly recommend this program. The volunteers were easy to work with, and we got some great cats! Loudoun County Animal Services is also running a barn cat program now, so that’s an option too.

While we were initially hesitant to get barn cats as we worried they’d be more work, we are so happy that we did! They are easy to care for, enjoyable to have around, and do their part eradicating rodents. If you’re considering getting barn cats for your own homestead, we highly recommend them!