Snow Hill Lion’s Club Hosts a Wildlife Damage Workshop
SNOW HILL, Md.– Farmers on the Lower Shore are learning new ways to protect their crops from costly wildlife damage.
The Snow Hill Lions Club recently hosted a Wildlife Damage Workshop, where the University of Maryland Extension shared practical strategies to help farmers reduce crop losses caused by deer and other wildlife.
Wildlife can cause thousands of dollars in damage to crops, making it one of the biggest challenges for many farmers across the Lower Shore.
“Wildlife damage is one of the biggest issues affecting the farmers here on the Lower Shore,” said Maegan Perdue, senior agent of agriculture with the University of Maryland Extension. “So we’re helping to give them some tools to help mitigate that and help decrease the amount of wildlife damage that has happened to their crops.”
Organizers said that even a single visit from wildlife can wipe out weeks of work in the field. They say using the right combination of management practices can help farmers reduce crop damage while maintaining a healthy balance between agriculture and wildlife.
Dr. Luke Macaulay, a wildlife management specialist, said improving habitat away from crop fields can encourage animals to stay in wooded areas instead.
“I think a lot of the practices that you could do for, say, bobwhite and deer where you would extend your forests or harvest your woods, is going to grow a lot of forage in your woods and deer food in the woods,” Macaulay said. “And it’t going to keep them, for a time, out of your fields.”
Still Macaulay said there is still no single solution for preventing wildlife damage.
“I would say there is no silver bullet,” Macaulay said. “I think there are four main tactics, and I think evaluating each of those four tactics for your farm– what works for your operation, your labor and your equipment– is what’s going to help.”
