Rat Killin'

The phrase "rat killin'" is one I've heard all my life.  It is normally used in the figurative sense, and means to run all your errands or do a number of little tasks that must be done.  Today's posting, however, is not figurative rat killing, but about literal rat killing.  You might want to finish your english muffin before scrolling down, as I have a shot or two that may make you lose your appetite.  Tricia was not fired up about this post and told me to remember that girls may read this blog and be turned off, but this topic is just part of life on a farm.  So I apologize in advance.

When we woke up this morning, we found a "gift" on our welcome mat - an eye opening welcome indeed.  Experience has taught us to look before taking that first step out of the door as we get these gifts a lot, especially in the fall and spring.

Welcome!

That is not a very good picture.  Fortunately I have a close up.

Rats!  I hate rats.  Our home is in the country and there is a 120 acre field across the road from our house that hasn't been plowed in a couple of years that is a haven for rats and other critters.  On the back border to our house is a small island of woods that also serves as a habitat for rats.  Their long tails and beady eyes and the fact that they are just gross and carry disease makes me try my best to eradicate every single one that I see.  Fortunately we have two ferocious rat killers on the payroll here at Our Maker's Acres Family Farm:


Christie

 and

Sheltie

These are our farm cats and they have been part of the family for about 11 years now.  They look very innocent and nice and cuddly, but don't be fooled.  These cold blooded killers are responsible for the "gifts" left on our welcome mat in the morning.  They are so proud of their hunting prowess that they want to show off all their trophies to us, after gnawing on the rat's head a little bit, of course.  They do not participate in the "catch and release" program.  They are skilled hunters who are unforgiving and brutal hunters in their bloodsport.

We love our cats and take care of them and they, in turn, take care of things around the farm.  Now we do feed them each day, but we feed them just enough to provide a safety net.  We want them hungry.  If they weren't hungry, they would lay around all day lounging and being lazy and not hunt and the rat population would grow.  We want to encourage a good work ethic and initiative instead of laziness and dependence.  Hmmm... Sounds like that philospophy could be applied elsewhere, but I digress.



Hunters are fueling up with Meow Mix

 We do have other weapons in our arsenal.  We've found that in the fall and winter rats sometimes like to go into our barn and reside up in the hay loft.  When we turn on the lights, they scamper across the rafters shown below:


Rats on the rafters = target practice

 And this is where it comes in handy to have a Marlin lever action .22 rifle that my Dad gave me loaded with these:



Go ahead, make my day.

 Now the box calls it .22 Long Rifle Pest Control, but most people call it "rat shot" and it is appropriately named.  If you look closely, you can see the blue tip of the bullet is see through and you can see a bunch of tiny pellets that prove just as deady to rats... as cats.

The neat thing is you can shoot the rifle loaded with these inside the barn and it doesn't blow holes through the sides of the barn.  It just blows holes through the sides of the rats!  It knocks them dead out of the rafters and coupled with the cats serves to end the rat problem on the farm.  Oh happy day!