Larsen traps

[nmayhew]

Hi,

Not sure if this is the correct forum but I wondered what the thoughts of folk were on these traps?

I was at a local meeting on lambing practice held by a leading vet and sheep farmer and he casually mentioned them as being fine for getting rid of magpies.

After investigation of what they were all about, i was v surprised that a vet / farmer so concerned with the welfare of his sheep would be happy using these traps (or maybe I shouldn't be?).

Seems like the classic farmer: “if it doesn’t benefit my farming, then trap it, shoot it, poison it, kill it!”

Also interesting that the vet himself acknowledged predation accounts for less than 5% of lambing deaths (abortion is c40% to put it into perspective).

I must admit i find the whole pro-song bird / anti mapgpie school a bit of a joke, esp when all the research (and common sense) points to modern farming methods as the main reason behind the falls in common song birds.

I love my garden birds, and spend god knows how much on sacks of feed etc for them, but i am a firm believer that:
a) predation is NATURAL - and for me seeing a sparrowhawk or hearing an owl is just as much a joyous thing as all my little robins
b) farming methods eg pesticides, chemicals, lifting hedgerows and putting in place fields the size of texas is responsible for the fall in bird numbers, not the cursed magpie or devil incarnate sparrowhawk

Sorry again if this post should be in another forum...

kind regards,

Nick

[Alice]

I think this link will provide everybody with all they need to know about Larsen traps.
I don't think all farmers are totally insensitive to the environment. Quite a lot of them are doing what they can to protect the environment and wildlife.
Larsen Traps :: Against Corvid Traps :: Magpies and Crows

[Two_Sheds]

I didn't know that Magpies ate Sheeps

[Polly Fouracre]

I didn't know that Magpies ate Sheeps

Sorry to say this at breakfast-time but magpies, indeed all the crow family,will peck the eyes from weak, newborn lambs, sometimes, if the ewe is having a difficult birth ,as she is trying to deliver!
However, they are as Nature intended and can't realy be blamed, Not very nice though!!

[nmayhew]

yes indeed they will attack weak lambs (and full grown sheep if they not able to walk around etc), and yes i agree not nice at all.

however, as with the fox threat, the reaction and perception of the threat is out of all proportion to the threat itself.

from a farming point of view, if farmers put a bit more cash and effort into caring properly for their sheep eg scanning prior to lambing, correct feed, keeping on top of vaccinations etc etc, their sheep (and their pockets) would be a lot better off than if they spent every spare moment trying to blast everything that moves that isn't a sheep.

i keep a few sheep myself, so i am half in the farmer camp btw...