prairie dog question

[sdsu rancher]

I'm doing a paper about controlling prairie dogs on rangeland. I can't seem to find any data on how fast prairie dog towns can spread. Have any of you had a town spread, or maybe repopulate after poisoning them? How long does it take? My family's operation is on the wrong side of the Missouri so I don't have much experience with them. Thanks for your help.

 

[sdsu rancher]

To do my bibliography, I may need to get your name and hometown and state so I reference the source correctly. Let me know if that's ok, or just PM me. Thanks.

 

[fedup2]

These 3 sites should provide the information you are looking for.

http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/library/wldlf2/c708.pdf

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/PUBS/NATRES/06506.html

http://www.prairiedog.info/prairie_dog_diet_field_research.htm

 

[Clarence]

I will just make a couple of comments, you can take them for what they are. From my observation a prairie dog town will double in size in about 3 years. This I suppose would depend on rainfall and grass growth. The prairie dog depends a lot on vision for his protection, so he keeps the grass in his area well clipped. The short tender regrowth is his preferred food. This close clipping of grass causes a decrease in the taller type of grass and plants. From my observation buffalo grass seeds may be one of his winter foods.

It seems they travel and seek new areas for towns in the late spring. I believe the ones that move are yearling females. When moving they tend to follow areas where there is no tall grass. Roads and cow trails mostly. It doesn't appear they can run as fast in tall grass and of course they can't see out as well.

After they have been completly killed out of an area, they seem to find the old towns in just a short time. One time we killed 99% of a town using phostoxin, in about 90 days they were back.

 

[fedup2]

From the first site I posted:

Prairie dogs usually have one litter
of three to eight young per year
born from March to April following
a gestation period of 28 to 34 days.
The young venture above ground at
an age of 5 to 6 weeks, usually by
early May.
Prairie dog densities vary from about
5 per acre in late winter to 20 per acre
after the birth of young in spring, although
spring densities of up to 35
per acre have been reported.
Dispersal usually occurs in late
spring. Prairie dogs can increase by
one-third of their population per year.
The fact that these animals disperse
and are prolific are two reasons for
the continuing need for control.
If control efforts were to be stopped,
prairie dogs would continue to increase
to a point where control efforts
would cost a great deal of
money and the rate of toxicant use
would increase greatly.

 

[Ben H]

I didn't see my first prarie dog until last summer when I did my pre-deployment training for Iraq at Ft Carson, CO. They aren't controlled there so they are everywhere. I heard a nice loud pop when I ran over a bloated one with our 10 passenger van.
One of the coolest means of controlling them I've seen was the John Deere video last year. They stuck propane cannons down the holes and created a controlled explosion in the burrows.