In the middle of summer, a special group of white-stone natural grasslands in Yizhou District are active, which are grassland herding chickens and ducks. They chase in droves every day on the pasture, feeding on locusts and making the pasture their home.
On July 9, in the grassland biological disaster monitoring and prevention workstation of Yizhou District in the white stone grassland, chickens and ducks were foraging for food on the grassland. In order to control locusts, the workstation has raised more than 1,000 herding chickens and 300 herding ducks, and they have become the grassland guards in the workstation.
These flocks of chickens and ducks were put into the white stone grassland in mid-June, and after careful care and training by the breeding staff, these flocks of chickens and ducks have been able to complete the activities of mobilization, invitation to feed, drinking water, returning to the house, moving the trough, etc., and can smoothly enter the cage and return to the house in the evening. Before grazing, technicians conduct locust surveys to determine the specific time and route for flocks of chickens and ducks to graze. Generally, 15 days is a rotation period, and each chicken can be prevented and controlled by 7.5 acres in a control period, and ducks can be prevented and controlled by 15 acres.
Wu Wenchao, head of locust and rat pest control at the grassland workstation of The Forestry and Grassland Bureau of Yizhou District:
Up to now, our grassland station has stocked about 1,000 herding chickens and distributed more than 800 to herders, which can both control locusts and generate income. Grazing chickens and ducks on the grassland can effectively prevent locust disasters, but also prevent secondary chemical pollution, and with the growth of chickens and ducks, it will bring economic benefits to herders in the later stages.
It is understood that Baishi Township has 1,080,800 mu of natural grassland, of which 70,000 mu are forbidden grasslands. The Forestry and Grassland Bureau of Yizhou District has selected ravines and valleys with relatively close water sources, higher terrain, sunny and leeward wind in areas where pests are frequent and frequent, to build stone nests, attract breeding starlings and other grassland beneficial birds, increase the number of natural enemies of locust birds, and effectively control locust infestation. And set up starling billboards in conspicuous places around the nest to strengthen the publicity work for the protection of starlings. Pink starlings feed mainly on locusts, and the amount of food is amazing, preying on 120-180 locusts every day, and each bird can control 2.1 acres in a control period. Today, 37 starling nests have been built on white stone natural pastures.
In order to further improve the prevention and control of rat infestation, according to the characteristics of eagles preferring to inhabit high places with open views to prey, the Forestry and Grassland Bureau of Yizhou District has built eagle frames in the degraded grassland area with flat and open terrain, sparse grassland vegetation and low plants, and attracted eagles to control rats. According to reports, an adult eagle can prey on 20-30 pest rats a day, and an adult falcon can prey on about 12 pest rats a day.
Dou Xiaofei, secretary of the party branch and station director of the Grassland Workstation in Yizhou District:
This year, the grassland workstation in Yizhou District has an area of 200,000 mu for locust pest control, of which 100,000 mu is for locust control and 100,000 mu for rat pest control. Mainly through biological control for the white stone area to reduce disasters, according to the previous survey, the current biological control we are carrying out can play an effective role.
Source: Illinois Zero Distance Official Micro