Greetings everyone, this is my second blog started in as many days, but this one is very different in focus from my weaving and fiber blog. This blog will be about one of my other hobbies, that is being owned by many cats. Quite a few of them are barn cats or working cats, they are beloved pets but they also have a job to do. Many people don't realize that domestic cats have played a very important role in man's ability to farm, settle down and preserve enough crops to get through the Winter or Rainy Seasons. Cats, along with some small dogs, have been the front line of defense against mice, rats and other vermin that will eat up an entire harvest if not kept in check somehow. Even with modern pesticides and storage facilities, barn cats are still one of the best back up systems a farm or small holding can have to keep down the pests.
In past centuries, there was no humane way to limit their numbers and humans were faced with stark choices such as drowning excess kittens or allowing sickly colonies of half-feral cats to live on the edges of their homesteads. Today, that's no longer required in the first world, as modern spaying and neutering can help a small holder keep just enough cats to keep the mice under control, without endless litters of unwanted kittens as a side effect.
The same thing is true for feeding and general care, fading away is the myth that cats who are fed each day will not hunt. Modern science and observation have shown that in reality a well fed cat makes the best hunting machine. The first domestic cats volunteered themselves as human companions because from their viewpoint there was a lot of good food and hunting near any human settlement. But for most modern cats, a diet of just mice and vermin is not enough to keep them healthy, they do much better with regular feeding from a responsible human. Then, even when no longer hungry they will hunt for the fun of it and because it is their nature to do so.
Not all cats make good barn cats or working cats. Like humans, cats vary in their interests, and those who have no interest in hunting besides a catnip mouse or feather-string are best brought into the house as pets or re-homed with someone who will dearly love them but not need them to work. Also, elderly working cats may need an well earned retirement beside the kitchen stove or a warm out building. But the majority of young and middle aged cats will hunt and can be very useful indeed.
If you mix kindness and petting with regular feedings and basic general care, you get great companions who will work for food and provide a warm purr while you work in the garden or shed. Here at Killmurry House in rural Ireland, we often get people asking us if they "can have a kitten because our barn cats are so friendly." I then have to explain that we get our kittens from the cat rescue center every few years, we then bring them inside, love them to bits and then introduce them to the older cats already in the yard. Over time, the older cats teach them by example how to hunt and we continue to love and pet all of them. We make sure to spay and neuter all of them before they can breed, and instead replace with new cats every few years when numbers dwindle. Outdoor cats in a rural area may have shorter lives than pampered indoor ones, which is another reason we choose rescues for the most part. Some still live to become elderly pensioners, who still often suffer to teach the younger ones the basics of the hunt.
Finally, while many nearby farm yard have large feral barn cat colonies, we keep our numbers fairly low. Five to seven working cats is all most small holdings really need. A few more if you've got more than one set of outbuildings. We have more cats than that (some are indoor pets) but we try to always have about three to five who really hunt.
In the days to come, I hope to introduce the various Kilmurry Barn cats, including our current crop of kittens. We went to the rescue center about a month ago to get two and found a third one in the bramble bushes of our drive on the way home. We call Disa, the little Hedgerow calico "The Lucky Kitten," since about 10 minutes either way and she never would have been found. She and her two "brothers" Kobolt and Tomten are just learning their way about the garden in the day time, while sleeping in the bed room each night. By Winter, we hope to have them living in the plastic "Cat Houses" all night, kept warm with old wool sweaters and bits of sheep's fleece too tangled to be worth carding and spinning.
I'm also hopeing that other people who have barn cats or who are thinking of getting barn cats, or who have questions about their cats will provide comments, e-mails and questions to make this blog a barn cat information center. A few years ago, on a forum I'm a member of, people started asking me and another lady questions about their farm/working cats, and after about three years I discovered I had over 40 pages of single spaced postings on the subject.
Now, a few more years down the road, I thought it might be fun to try and start a place that focused on the subject. General cat questions and stories are welcome too! I'm looking forward to hearing from others as well as sharing what's happening here in our courtyard!
Stay Tune for More to Come,
The Barn Cat lady
Killmurry House, Shinrone Ireland
Picture drawn by Becky Fernis
