Prevent the risk of Salmonella from bird droppings. The Bird Gard repels large numbers of starlings in dairy buildings and feed bunks.

Efficacy of European starling control to reduce Salmonella contamination in a concentrated animal feeding operation

Background
Evidence suggests starlings can contribute to the maintenance and spread of diseases within livestock facilities. Identifying and mitigating the risk pathways that contribute to disease in livestock is necessary to reduce production losses and contamination. To better understand the impact starlings have on disease transmission to cattle we assessed the efficacy of starling control as a tool to reduce Salmonella enterica within a concentrated animal feeding operation. In both facilities, we sampled cattle feed, cattle water and cattle feces for S. enterica before and after starling control operations.

Results
Within the starling-controlled CAFO, detections of S. enterica contamination disappeared from feed bunks and substantially declined within water troughs following starling control operations.

Conclusions
Within the starling-controlled facility detections of S. enterica disappeared from feed bunks and substantially declined within water troughs following control operations. Since cattle feed and water are obvious routes for the ingestion of S. enterica, starling control shows promise as a tool to help livestock producers manage disease. Yet, we do not believe starling control should be used as a stand alone tool to reduce S. enterica infections.