When I purchased my acreage between Devon and Spruce Grove in 1996, it came replete with a large house, double garage, a 1,000-square-foot Quonset (100 square metres) and a 1,000-square-foot greenhouse. I replaced the aging greenhouse with a 1,000-square-foot Dutch-style greenhouse in 2012. The Quonset and the greenhouse were adjacent, facing east to west, with the greenhouse obviously on the south side. I sectioned off the Quonset with a sheep pen on one side, taking up some 20 per cent of the space, and a chicken house taking about 15 per cent of the space, along with electrical service for winter heating.

I kept around 15 mixed-breed laying hens replete with a rooster in the henhouse, which had access to an outside top-wired chicken pen. I learned that chickens left outside in green pens, particularly young hens or bantams, would be killed by the resident ravens. The ravens worked in gangs of three or four. I considered buying an English gamecock from a friend to kill off the ravens. The hens also got attacked by hawks on a couple of occasions when I had them outside of the top-wired pen. So much for free-range chickens.

But my main problem raising chickens for farm-fresh eggs was mice. When I had the chickens indoors in the Quonset overwinter, I was inundated with mice. They multiplied phenomenally and each year by early spring there would be a hundred or more mice running around the chicken part of the Quonset.

I kept all the chicken food, which included pellets, peas, corn and small cereal grain, in those big, round, mouse-proof 50-gallon plastic barrels — barrels that you could purchase from car washing operations.

In an attempt to control the mice, I tried humane traps, 5-gallon plastic pails, mouse traps and mouse poisons. None worked. The mice even moved into the greenhouse, where they damaged my overwintering fruit and ornamental stock and eventually into the garage and the house.

One of my daughters gave me a pair of neutered cats, which I moved into the Quonset. I had to install heating and food and water facilities for the cats. The cats had access to the chicken area where they could get the mice. It worked fairly well but there were always some mice around. Both cats passed away after 14 years in 2018, but they did reduce the mouse population.

In the last few years, I reduced the hen population down to five or six at any given time and pastured them in an outdoor area in part of my garden from May to October. This allowed me to clean out the henhouse of spilled, uneaten grain. Unfortunately, the mice followed the hens outside and back indoors for the winter. These mice also again ended up in the greenhouse and house, where I repeatedly had to poison them off.

But then

In fall 2022, a mousing miracle happened. A squirrel moved into the henhouse in the Quonset. I thought of it initially as a nuisance since the squirrel kept filling up the nest boxes with pine cones from nearby trees. I repeatedly cleaned out the flowerpots and the squirrel switched his pine cone storing to some larger flowerpots that I had left in the rest of the Quonset.

The squirrel was a male since there were no young. He would take corn cobs and bread from the hens, fill flowerpots with pine cones and let me watch him eating in the nearby pine tree.

What I noticed in spring 2023 was astounding. There was no sign of mice — not even in the greenhouse or garage, where I regularly poisoned them. By fall 2023, the henhouse was still mouse-free. And in all of 2024, there was no sign of mice anywhere in the greenhouse, Quonset, garage or house.

I do not know what the squirrel does to drive the mice away. Does he kill them or eat them? I know that in the wild mice or voles could raid a squirrel’s vital winter food stocks. So perhaps it’s a natural occurrence.

I have several urban friends who complain about squirrel damage in their urban or rural gardens. A couple of friends tell me that they have trapped up to 30 squirrels and taken them many miles away before releasing them. Remove a squirrel and you create a territorial void others will quickly fill. My advice would be to keep one or perhaps two squirrels happy with supplemental grain — chicken feed, for example — in a hanging container and they will keep their territories mouse-free.

So, next time you see a squirrel running around your chicken flock, barn, house or garage, think again. Squirrels are very territorial, so you only get one at a time in any given area. I certainly have changed my mind about Canada’s little red squirrel that’s made my property and house mouse-free.

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For some farm business strategies, we checked in with Hollie Rudy, a territory manager with Nutrien Financial who also farms with her family in Iowa. Nutrien Financial, which is affiliated with Nutrien Ag Solutions, entered the Canadian market in 2022, offering various financial services for farmers. Here’s what Rudy had to say.

Don’t wait

Rudy says it’s best to look at your financial position now so if you decide to participate in various incentive programs, you can do so while they are still available. “A lot of times we farmers wait and then we miss out on incentives for seed or limited time offer financing programs.”

Some farmers may be hesitant to lock into programs and capitalize on early incentive opportunities because they don’t feel prepared to make these decisions before the programs or opportunities have expired. To feel more ready, Rudy advises consulting with your accountant and other financial partners as soon as possible to get that sky-high view of your operation.

This can be done by looking at your tax position, analyzing depreciating assets and examining whether you need to make business investments such as large equipment purchases. You can also look at how grain contracts factor in and how they affect cash flow on your farm. It’s also a good idea to review contributions to your retirement savings plan.

“If we lock in our production costs, seed and fertilizer, we may of course avoid shortages but it’s very important from a financial perspective in two ways,” says Rudy. “We gain savings (through incentive programs) but it also helps us to look forward.

“If we know our costs of production now for 2023, we have a better idea of what our capital management strategies need to be, how better to plan the timing of grain marketing (and) how to factor in what investments we need to make,” she adds. “Anytime you can take advantage of early programs and secure those lower input prices early, you should do it.”

Consider all options

Shop around and make notes of what’s available from all of the seed companies and financial companies, says Rudy. It can be a big mistake to simply do what you did last year or make decisions without knowing all of your options.

Be clear on cash

Rudy notes while it certainly can be wise to take advantage of great deals for seed that require payment in cash, if you are getting cash from an operating loan, you need to factor the cost of borrowing this cash into the input price.

“If you are using cash from an operating loan, that is likely a variable-rate loan, so you need to look at how fast you will be able to pay that back and how much the rate could increase before it’s paid off,” she says. “You’ll only know the true cost of borrowing that cash after it’s paid for, so you need to work with your financial team members to understand cash flow and get it paid at speed.”

Understand your borrowing rate

Farmers should look at all of their financing options and aim for a good overall blended rate, says Rudy.

“There tends to be a misconception out there about what a truly blended rate means,” she explains. “I just worked with a grower where we did a commitment to buy seed, with payment due next fall using fixed-rate borrowing. If you’re combining rate financing with some low- or no-cost programs, then you need to realize that the fixed rate of interest you are paying for all of your inputs is actually much lower when you look at your big picture.”

Rudy also reminds growers it’s always worth inquiring about extended payment terms, if needed. Some payback leniency is always a good idea, she says, and nowadays due to more financing competition, options to pay early or pay later are being offered more readily.

Have a good team around you

Good farm business managers already know a farm business team of experts is a must. “Relationships are important,” says Rudy. “You need tax people, input dealers, equipment dealers, lenders. Incorporate the experts you need into your operation.

“Don’t fix what’s not broken but you should always be looking at how you as a team can make your situation better,” she advises. “You’re always doing that with crop management, so do the same with grain contracts, borrowing and other aspects of the business.”

Rudy urges farmers to look for ways to make the business side more efficient, so their efforts in crop production are not wasted. “Financial efficiency is one of the things that we can do better as farmers. The long-term financial stability of a farm business is all about maximizing profitability. And if you are financially stable, then you are also ready if you want to grow or if life throws a curveball.”

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