4 ms·

what's the legitimate case for farms?

by jibbit 3y ago

tehbeard 3y ago
Given the rest of their comment, natural pest control.
- jibbit 3y ago
  households that aren't farms don't have pests?
  - dspillett 3y ago
    Not as much so, at least not causing the same issues. Feeding from (and crapping in) waste sites which is mostly what urban vermin do is far less damaging than spoiling grain stores and killing a farm's profit (or the farm's customers!). In the past, before much of our food was in plastic containers or more difficult to puncture packaging, or in a fridge, vermin posed more of a problem in that way within the house (they still do in poorer locations where safe food storage is more of a difficulty). Some non-farm households even in well-off locations do still have cats with vermin control being one of the stated reasons.
defrost 3y ago
Anything short of a full blown mouse plague: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ITgdgPUMuY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ITgdgPUMuY Even cats will tap out then.
- ASalazarMX 3y ago
  That would be rat terrier paradise. Your biggest problem would be what to do with lots of mice carcasses.
dspillett 3y ago
Vermin control. It is what brought us and cats together in the first place: grain stores attracted small animals that could spoil the crop or otherwise spread harmful disease, cats found these populations a very useful concentrated food source but did not cause nearly as much similar trouble themselves, so letting them stay around was a good bargain for us.
- jibbit 3y ago
  Lots of rats and mice in places other farms e.g. cities, I’m just wondering why farms get special dispensation
  - dspillett 3y ago
    > why farms get special dispensation wrt allendoerfer's comment: farm cats are not constrained to a small building (a house), and are a more natural part of the local ecosystem (they have generally been allowed to remain, or have craftily managed to remain, rather than having been shipped in by humans) so don't cause the same potential imbalance in local small animal populations (the ones humans find more desirable and less damaging, like birds).

what's the legitimate case for farms?

by jibbit 3y ago

what's the legitimate case for farms?

tehbeard 3y ago

Given the rest of their comment, natural pest control.

jibbit 3y ago
households that aren't farms don't have pests?
- dspillett 3y ago
  Not as much so, at least not causing the same issues. Feeding from (and crapping in) waste sites which is mostly what urban vermin do is far less damaging than spoiling grain stores and killing a farm's profit (or the farm's customers!). In the past, before much of our food was in plastic containers or more difficult to puncture packaging, or in a fridge, vermin posed more of a problem in that way within the house (they still do in poorer locations where safe food storage is more of a difficulty). Some non-farm households even in well-off locations do still have cats with vermin control being one of the stated reasons.

defrost 3y ago

Anything short of a full blown mouse plague: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ITgdgPUMuY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ITgdgPUMuY Even cats will tap out then.

ASalazarMX 3y ago
That would be rat terrier paradise. Your biggest problem would be what to do with lots of mice carcasses.

dspillett 3y ago

Vermin control. It is what brought us and cats together in the first place: grain stores attracted small animals that could spoil the crop or otherwise spread harmful disease, cats found these populations a very useful concentrated food source but did not cause nearly as much similar trouble themselves, so letting them stay around was a good bargain for us.

jibbit 3y ago
Lots of rats and mice in places other farms e.g. cities, I’m just wondering why farms get special dispensation
- dspillett 3y ago
  > why farms get special dispensation wrt allendoerfer's comment: farm cats are not constrained to a small building (a house), and are a more natural part of the local ecosystem (they have generally been allowed to remain, or have craftily managed to remain, rather than having been shipped in by humans) so don't cause the same potential imbalance in local small animal populations (the ones humans find more desirable and less damaging, like birds).