Animals that you DON'T want on your hobby farm

There are many types of hobby farms with many types of animals or plants. Here are some favorite animals of hobby farmers.

But almost all farmers will agree on a few animals that they don't want on their farm.

Snakes are on the to top of the list for most hated animals and for good reason. Usually if they don't hurt you they will make you so scared that you will hurt yourself! Even if a snake is not poisonous it can give an infectious bite to your pets, animals or yourself. Even though black snakes and king snakes are considered "good snakes", you may not want even these around for this reason. Many farmers and land owners use repellents to keep snakes at bay. Here are some of your choices:

Check Walmart or your hardware store to find them.

Mice and rats are another animal you don't want on your hobby farm. Mice attract snakes for the reason that you see in the first picture and rats do the same. So if you keep your rodent population down, you will keep your snake population down also. A farm cat or "good mouser" as they are called will help out a lot on this problem. Or you could go the commercial route on this. Here is what I usually use.

Of course, there is always the option of the old fashioned mouse traps.

Garden pests are hated by crop farmers. And though they have many chemicals as their resources, there are many insects in the garden that can be kept at bay with diatomaceous earth and that is my favorite "go to" for a garden pest repellent. "How do you pronounce that?" you may ask. I just call it "D.E." Works great on soft bodied insects. Of course you have to reapply after rain.

I have used the Garden Safe brand and also the Red Lake brand. It is effective against squash bugs if you put enough around and on the base of a wet stem to make a crust when it dries.

Neem oil is often effective against insects and fungus, and Pyrethrin can help control certain insects also. It is SO IMPORTANT to read the instructions on the back of the containers and follow the repeat uses in order to get the desired effect in your garden

Large animals can be a pest sometimes. Deer, raccoons, and rabbits can wreak havoc on a garden to the point of being unable to save any of it! Here is a new product that I have tried this year: Shot Gun Repels All. It has helped with the rabbit problem that I have never dealt with before. I had always had a dog pen close to the garden before and the dogs barking had kept these kind of pests away.

The last unwanted animal on my farm is a slug. These slimy creatures can make my skin crawl when I accidentally touch them. They can also do plenty of damage to plants.

I use old fashioned table or Epsom salt on sidewalks or under decks. If applied thick enough they will not keep coming back. Of course, you can't use this method in your garden or around any plants you want to keep alive. Instead, try a slug bait. If you keep decomposing leaves, hay or grass picked up, there less of these tiny slimies.

So if you decide to hobby farm, start off with some defenses against the animals that you DON'T want. I didn't even talk about flies, yet! They need a whole post to themselves! So that will be another day.