So this is going to be the speed dating version of pocket gopher
management in alfalfa.
Thank you, guys, for joining me.
I'm going to assume that you guys know
a little bit about pocket gophers and just kind of jump
to the basics that I need you to know.
Pocket gophers are one of the number one vertebrate problems
in alfalfa in Utah, and it may be
because alfalfa and dandelions are their preferred food.
We know that, in natural habitats,
pocket gophers exist at about 20 per acre,
while in alfalfa there can be upwards of 130 per acre.
So they are-- according to a survey conducted in Utah,
they're one of the most abundant threats to production.
80% of producers report that they have pocket gophers
on their agricultural production.
If I know a lot about pocket gophers,
here are some facts that you may not know.
Pocket gophers can excavate at about 6 feet an hour.
They can be any shape and size.
And here on the left of the screen,
you can see different depictions of pocket gopher burrows.
Some burrows are up to 800 feet long,
depending on the type of soil that we have.
And with the rocky soil that's mostly in Southern Utah,
they're probably not going to be 800 feet long.
The lateral burrows-- and those are the burrows that are
horizontal to the ground--
are about 3 inches below the surface,
while the dens and the storage room
can be several feet down depending on any obstructions
that they see in the soil.
When we're trying to manage for pocket gophers,
we're really coming down to two options,
either baiting or trapping.
Baiting tends to be more traditional,
and it's probably less labor intensive.
So we like to use that more often.
In some parts of Utah, the weather makes it difficult.
Baiting is very time specific and season
specific on its efficacy with pocket gophers.
And sometimes it's just not really an option.
And when it's not, it's OK.
We can use traps.
They're also very effective.
They take a little bit more effort and time,
but they do get the job done as well as baiting.
Mark Nelson and I conducted some research
in Beaver County a few years back.
And we showed that, when conducting
either baiting or trapping, within the first week--
in here, it's week two of the study.
But within the first week, we can
reduce that population of pocket gophers below the control.
And you can see that, consistently,
baiting and trapping have pretty much the same effect.
But one thing to note is that we've really
didn't get to full suppression of the pocket gophers
until about week six.
So just one-time effort is not enough.
So if you see the population declining, don't stop.
Just keep going until you aren't trapping any more pocket
gophers or you're not seeing any more new pocket gopher
activity.
When we're talking about baiting pocket gophers,
we're usually going to use strychnine and zinc phosphide.
They have a below ground label use
specifically for pocket gophers.
They will kill pretty much anything.
So it really has to be subsurface applications.
And it is a restricted use.
So you need an applicator license
to use strychnine and zinc phosphide.
You can also use anticoagulants--
most commonly, chlorophacinone and diphacinone.
That's what you see here in this.
Kaput-D is a diphacinone bait.
It's a general rodenticide, so it can kill any rodent.
But the target animal has to eat several doses
before it's lethal.
So this is a situation-- if you're
using the anticoagulants, you need to have enough bait
and to really follow that label so that the pocket
gopher's going to get a couple doses and die.
If you decide to use traps, we generally use three types.
We have a cinch trap.
We have the DK-1, which is the photo in the middle.
And then we have the Macabee, which
is the photo on the far right.
We have found, through research, that the Macabee
is the most effective trap and the most efficient.
So it's catching more pocket gophers per minute
you spend in the field than the other two traps.
It's also very easy to set, and it's relatively inexpensive.
We think that we could actually have increased efficacy if we
open the tines a little bit.
So in some of our traps, we weren't catching some
of the larger pocket gophers.
Apparently, Utah has mutantly large pocket gophers.
And so you just have to widen the tines on the Macabees,
and then you can catch more pocket gophers.
Whether you're using baits or traps,
the timing of your control effort is critical.
Pocket gophers are active year round,
and they can be active in any time of the day.
But in February is when they start mating,
and you see them moving around a lot more
and excavating burrows a lot more in an attempt
to find mates.
So you really want to target your control
during that breeding season when you have that increased
activity.
This gets the animals before they breed.
Then you have to control fewer animals.
So you have a smaller population going into the production
season.
But this is where timing can be a problem, because, again, you
want to do something for upwards of five to six weeks.
You have to think about, OK, when is your growing season,
and then start six weeks ahead of that.
And sometimes your field is covered
in 3 feet of snow 6 feet ahead of your growing season,
so so that's where baits may not be effective but traps would.
I created some data--
it's just fake data--
just to give you an idea of what I mean about spring
and the timing of control.
Here's just what would happen with the natural increase
in the population where you have a spring population and then
the summer with the juveniles moving through the environment.
And then natural mortality reduces that population
in the fall.
And if you look at the graph of spring management,
you can see we have that same population--
50 animals.
And then we do some sort of control,
whether it be trapping or baiting.
And we kill-- in this case, I just said we killed 20.
So we killed 20 of those 50.
And they reproduced, and you have
120 animals in the environment if you consider the offspring.
And then you have that fall mortality.
So you're looking at that decrease over time.
So even if you just do the minimal effort
of either baiting or trapping but you do it every spring,
you're going to get a reduction in the overall pocket gopher
population.
If something happens and you can't do it in the spring,
do it in the fall because you can still bait.
You can still trap in the fall.
The young have been born, and so you have this larger population
to deal with, and you have had some summer mortality.
But it still works.
You're still going to decrease your population.
And here in my fake data set, to compare it,
you have the same spring population,
and then you have the summer population
with the offspring and then the natural mortality
and then your fall trapping.
You're going into the next spring with a smaller
population.
So you do have the offspring to deal
with during your production season.
But, over time, you are reducing.
So this is where we compare the spring and the fall.
I want you to do your control in the fall--
or I mean, in the spring.
Do your control in the spring, and here's why.
So in the spring, if we start with 50 animals,
you have about 120 with a little bit of baiting and trapping.
And then that decreases over time.
If you don't do your control until fall,
you're looking at possibly 200 animals in your field
during the production season.
So, over time, you get the same result.
But it's just a matter of how many animals are actually
in your field during your production season.
So that's just sort of the take-home message there.
And then, finally, like Steve and Mark are saying,
you really need to coordinate with your neighbors.
It doesn't do you any good if these orange circles are doing
everything that they should be doing
and they have the right timing and then
you've got these three empty areas
where nothing's happening.
Even if you have a fallow field, you
should still be monitoring your borders so that the animals--
the pocket gophers in those fallow fields
aren't moving into your alfalfa or your production.
You want something more like on the right
where you've got everybody coordinating.
You're either doing baiting or you're doing trapping.
Everyone's doing it in the spring.
Maybe you're doing some cleanup in the fall
to get some production that you missed.
But you've got this coordinated effort.
And that means that the overall pocket gopher population
is going to decrease quicker and it's
going to stay decreased longer.
So the takeaways-- that you need a consistent effort
with your neighbors.
Spring management is better than fall for your crops,
but both will work.
Baiting and trapping are both effective.
So if you're living in a place where you can't really
bait because of the conditions of your field
in February and early March, try trapping.
And if you don't feel like trapping,
then do something in the fall.
Again, similar to what Mark was saying, use the right bait.
They're labeled specifically for a reason,
whether it's for human safety or for the efficiency of the bait.
There's no sense wasting money using expensive bait
in the wrong way or the wrong time.
For traps, use the Macabee.
We find that to be the most efficient
in removing pocket gophers per time spent in the field.
And then, finally, a reminder that you
need more than one pulse of control effort.
So just going out there one week and doing something
may not work.
Look at doing something over the course of five or six weeks.
And with that, there's my contact information,
QR code-- if you put your camera on that,
it'll take you to the website with mine
and Mark's research and our publications about pocket
gophers.