Name the Peril - Talk About Yield Loss

[SmallTimeOperator]

Anhydrous Ammonia for a few years helps deal with pocket gophers and gophers.

[Blaithin]

So is there a difference between gophers, pocket gophers, and richardson ground squirrels?

All we have is the latter, and anything that borders grass around here has to be well tended with a .22 most of the year. I've tried poisoning, but all it seems to do is increase the housing supply! They'll be back in a year or two at the best.

Usually when people say gopher they mean Richardson Ground Squirrels. They’ll also call the Thirteen Striped Ground squirrel a gopher as well but that’s usually just because they see the holes and the hole is a gopher hole. Those ones look like giant chipmunks.

Pocket Gophers in comparison you will almost never find above ground. They make hills similar to moles and almost everyone will call them a mole. For instance, Alberta doesn’t have moles, yet practically everyone will say they have moles whenever they have those dirt mounds. Then they’ll say the moles are eating their carrots Hah They look like a very large vole and have large front claws for digging.

[the big wheel]

and then the badgers move in and make the axle breaking holes

[helmsdale]

and then the badgers move in and make the axle breaking holes

Do yours seem to have a diploma in surveying? Buggers seem to like diggin in wheel tracks here. Brutal!

Impressive animal none the less. I remember running one over inadvertently with the tandem grain truck and he came out the back end more pissed off than ever

[the big wheel]

Haha yes never fails to find almost every hole they dig. Besides lead any remedies to get rid of them? they are one tough animal.

[ajl]

Thought this was going to be a yield peril of the day thread. That way we can go through all 5000 different ways we can lose yield farming here in the asshole of creation. Have lost canola due to gophers. They just eat everything above ground at night. Tried peas and canola intercrop one year: gophers (Richardson ground squirrels) ate all the canola next to their burrows but left the peas alone.

[13stripe]

Pocketgopher mounds make lentil harvest a treat.

[furrowtickler]

Gophers and mole hills raising havoc in lodged wheat too
add wet ground and if not land rolled , it’s a nightmare for some now