In 2021 , Erik Larsen , proprietor of a trim down flower farm in the Willamette Valley , saw his crop decimated by vole . So did many farmers and ranchers in western Oregon .
Voles are member of the rodent phratry . Many species hold up in Oregon , including gray - trail voles ( Microtus canicaudus ) that are commonly found in valley grasslands , most now used for USDA . Often referred to as meadow mouse or playing area mice , field mouse raise no more than six inches in length and cover apace .
“ Around the beginning of July , I start acknowledge that the dahlias pushing up were underperforming , ” Larsen said . “ I perpetrate up a couple of genus Tuber , and there was nothing there . They ’ll feed anything green . I lost 90 % of my crop . ”
Vole activity was off the charts in western Oregon from 2018 - 2021 , according to Nick Andrews , Oregon State University Extension Service organic vegetable crop specialist . crop disappeared , pastureland were bankrupt , and young blueberry and orchard trees gird .
In non - peak years , thousands of vole holes can be strewn across an acre , many of them untenanted . appear for live burrows is difficult , time - consuming , and expensive , make non - rodenticide ascendancy almost impossible .
In response , Andrews , Dana Sanchez , OSU Extension wildlife specialist and associate professor in the College of Agricultural Sciences , and other collaborator took the novel approach of make dogs use their powerful olfactory organ to sniff out burrows used by springy voles , giving a head - up to farmers looking for positioning to localise sand trap . The dogs , including Andrews ’ standard rat terrier , Bijou , were give the scent and , working with handler , reconnoiter theater of operations and show the tunnel entering where voles were living .
“ Because setting and glade traps takes even more time than reconnoiter , it would be helpful to have more confidence that there is a vole in a exceptional tunnel before place time and exertion , ” Sanchez said . “ Our central possibility is that canine assistance of alive vole can make snapshot - trapping a executable , non-poisonous option to effectively manage voles on farm , especially if conduct before the breeding time of year starts . ”
replication slows in winter , making it the good season for scouting and trapping , Sanchez said . Voles , like many prey animals , have adapted to give rise offspring at a speedy rate to ensure their selection . The extremely fecund gray - tailed voles begin matt-up at three weeks and have legion litter each class , go to multiple generations breed at the same time .
In some years , agriculturalist get a suspension when the vole population decreases , as it did in 2022 . The understanding for the boom - or - bout cycle is the $ 64 thousand question , Sanchez say . It ’s not clear why and the inquiry is ongoing .
Promising resultsThe preliminary results of the canine - assisted research are promising . Dogs are much more effective than mankind at find out bouncy tunnel . Dogs film 97 arcminute to key a tunnel . In the same amount of time , it strike unassisted humans 232 minutes , consort to statistic append by Sanchez .
grey - bob field mouse double their damage with tenacious burrows that can disturb shallow theme systems . At one fix , the squad found a web of tunnels 11 metrical foot long with at least 40 entrance holes . The vole were destroying a ley and encroaching on neighboring vegetable crop .
“ They have an impingement that choke beyond what we would gestate from a exclusive metal money , ” Sanchez said . “ Burrowing rodent have so many shock on their habitat as they use up industrial plant and make their burrows . ”
grayness - tail vole are aboriginal to the Willamette Valley , where many crops are sow in what was once aboriginal grassland . Because the valley is their home , there will always be another vole waiting for an empty spot , Sanchez said .
Fannie Merritt Farmer intriguedThe idea of using a dog to find live field mouse intrigues Karl Mohr , owner of Jackson Family Farm since 2006 , so much so that he ’d weigh using a dog . Mohr has used drones for detecting voles but said any kind of canopy precludes visual confirmation . Dogs work that trouble .
weenie have long been used for the detection of drug and , more recently , Crab , diabetes , and other diseases , so it was n’t too much of a jump to use them for voles , Andrews said . To accomplish the tight and quotable accuracy take for cuspid detection , dogs and handlers must be cultivate and tested for accuracy , which engage clock time , facilities , and money . But canine detection could translate to cash saved by controlling voles before populations can rise , the researchers said .
The dog-iron - handler squad used in the discipline were recruited from successful participation in the elite level of the National Association of Canine Scent Work , a grouping competing in the mutation commonly cognise as “ nosework . ”
“ I eff dog , ” Sanchez said . “ In the past distich of years , I ’ve gotten involved in dog athletics , admit nosework . Even before that , I was aware of how citizenry were using dogs to do all kinds of things . Being in this business for 15 years and hearing about vole damage and the pauperism for better putz and solution , it seemed a natural thing to explore using dogs . It ’s especially important for constitutive farmers who ca n’t utilise zinc phosphide , which will down other animals if exposed , requires licensing and protective equipment to purchase and use , and even for conventional operations is dependent to rigorous laws that must be followed . ”
In 2023 , research collaborators are using a grant from Western SARE ( Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education ) to focalize on pasturage where there is an “ intense need , ” accord to Andrews . One constitutional grower he works with made the drastic – and expensive – decisiveness to plow under his pasture and reseed it .
“ forage are one of the tough to look for because of the amount of flora material , ” Andrews said . “ Whether visually searching or catching a scent , there ’s a whole lot of clutter on the reason . We ’ll be getting data from six pasture this class . ”
beginning : extension.oregonstate.edu
