How many cats do I need......one or two per building or barn area?

[Color_of_Light]

Do barn cats just hang out in their adoptive building or do they patrol a certain territory (like several buildings in an area)? If a person has acreage with multiple spread out buildings, what is the rule of thumb as to adequate mouser coverage…how many cats needed?

The wild cats that sometimes patrol the property have never moved into the barns. They got eaten or moved on because I haven’t seen any lately, and not at the indoor. Dogs keop the place patrolled too, but this time of year dogs aren’t out there much.

I’ve got three main areas/buildings on the property, a fourth that is another barn where a cat/cats could live. Acres of pasture, some lightly wooded pasture. The main areas are: garage and porch attached to house, 50-75 feet away is a large barn that is currently empty of horses w/ tack room, feeds rooms, etc. Indoor arena with attached barn and other outbuildings is far away at different part of the property. The fourth barn is more open but has enclosed tack/feed/hay and is close to the big fields.

I need cats, but how many? Will they hunt squirrels or chipmunks in addition to mice and rats? I saw a baby chipmunk or something heading down the aisle and into the indoor today. Occasional squirrels around the buildings. Mice. Rats seem to cycle every few years.

[sk_pacer]

When I still had barn cats (the last one now lives in the house), they all staked out areas around the yard to hunt and some even specialised in prey - my long gone, much loved tractor cat, Jack, almost exclusively hunted gophers, Zabbie hunted the rooftops for pigeons which he would share with the rest, Hissy went for blackbirds and mice, and Streak and Tippy went after everything else as did the others. They all lived in the barn where I had built a ‘house’ for them and would all pile up in the cold under a heat lamp. These guys patrolled just over 6 acres and kept it mostly vermin free but only Jack would go after rats and then only tentatively…they are scary and vicious beasts. Get a number you feel comfortable with, provide constant dry food and supplement with tinned when you do evening chores. Make sure they have a warm place to sleep, even if it is a large straw filled box with sides and top. Some will never use that box but will sleep in burrows in the hay - don’t worry, they won’t mess where they sleep and will frequently use an occupied stall as a litter box. Also, some cats and horses develop a close attachment and the cat will use the horse as a heated bed.

[mvp]

Actually, you are right to hire many cats for the job. But you hire a somewhat excessive number for a different reason. You are hiring all those cats in order to hedge your bet against a cat who won’t hunt.

A natural-born Rodent Mercenary… a cat whose raison d’être comes from killing usually comes in a plain brown wrapper: You don’t know which cat will do that until she is put into context.

So you have to make allowances for the sleek, athletic, non-nonsense cat that had the Killer Wrapping Paper… who takes a powder and will only eat expensive wet food once he’s home.

The HR strategy when it comes to cats is rarely about interviewing well. Its usually about getting more cats. Good thing your farm can absorb that.

I will say that a female cat is more likely to have the ambition that you seek. And if she comes from another barn, so much the better.

To answer your other question about cats/acre or building or theorized number of rodents on your place, I do think an avid hunter will roam widely and go where the action is. A cat can really get around when he has a reason to.

[jherold]

I have a 60X80 ancient bank barn. I’ve found that 4 is the minimun number of cats needed to keep the rodent population in check. If your out buildings are smaller, you could start with 2 per building and adjust as necessary.

[Color_of_Light]

Very helpful! Thank you! But geez, if jherold had a minimum of 4 in a 60x80 building, then I’m going to turn into the cat lady, because I’ll need like 10-12 cats!

So, what about food? How much will full time mousers eat? Never had a full time mouser in the 11 or so years I’ve been here (had indoor cat), mainly due to the feral cats and the dogs keeping rodent population down. At one point there were 15-20 cats roaming my property and several neighbors. Now the feral cat and dog traffic has changed drastically, so various rodents have appeared.

Also, do cats hunt moles and gophers too?

[sk_pacer]

Mine never ate the mice but feasted on gophers and rats with wings…er pigeons and the odd grouse. Don’t know if they hunt moles as moles live underground, but they do go after voles. Always have food available for them and bringing a tin of wet food as a treat at chore time ensures they will stick around for the most part.

[LadyBug]

I recently adopted 2 barn cats from a rescue that traps and speuters before adopting out or releasing. They gave me an information packet that I found really interesting. Long story short on your food question… they need to be fed if you want them to stay around and hunt. Feeding them regularly does NOT discourage them from hunting and actually gives them more energy to do so.

Our kittens are very playful and will hopefully turn into good hunters. They have a constant supply of dry food and get a can of wet food once per day.

[khall]

Feed them, the cats will hunt regardless, sometimes eating what they kill sometimes not.

[Rain]

They will definitely hunt moles! My extraordinarily spoiled indoor cat will go outside only when the weather is nice and he has brought home any number of moles. And bunnies. Sigh.

[jherold]

Yes, get them addicted to the canned food! I put out maybe a 2 cups of dry food every other day or so up on an old dog airline crate. Canned food when I do evening chores. Everyone usually shows up. Get spayed females. They are the best mousers in general and don’t tend to spray on the hay like the males. My Humane Society gives me the “unadobtables.” Not necessarily feral, but they don’t want to be pets and are usually 6 months to a few years old. They know as barn cats they live a risky life, but better a short enjoyable life than a long life in a cage. DO NOT GET ATTACHED! Remenber, these are working cats, not pets.

[Graymaresrule]

I have 8cats in my hay barn, all adopted. They get dry food in the morning and 1can of cat food each in the evening. They are quite aware of feeding time.