This reporter has a friend who took delivery of a brand new tractor at 10am, put it straight to work, stopped for lunch, and by 2pm it was a smouldering wreck.
During his lunch break birds had started a nest – enough to ignite and destroy the new machine.
Here’s a way to counter this problem: entrepreneurs Brian and Diane Bate, BBM Enterprises, saw a niche and have developed and now market three items targeting nuisance pests around machines and buildings.
The Bird Buster is a bird deterrent alarm system that stops birds nesting or roosting by means of an audible sound annoying to birds. It is, says Brian, “easy to install, and not only stops nesting, but also the mess created by bird droppings on expensive machinery”. The shed alarm costs $545+GST.
Their tractor alarm mounts under the bonnet, drawing power from the battery to run an unpleasant audible alarm. This unit will keep the birds away from tractor, header, bailer or any motorised machine. At $355+GST it is cheap insurance.
Another of BBM Enterprises’ pest deterrents is the Rodent Alarm, rat and mouse repeller, solar powered and simply pushed into the ground outside the building you wish to protect. One unit will service about 600m2 so multiple units will be required for larger sheds, usually placed at the corners or points of vermin entry. These emit an audible squeak intermittently.
Diane Bate reports one customer had “problems with rabbits devouring the vegetable garden, until they used a Rodent Alarm. No more problems, until one night they shifted it, and in the morning the garden had been decimated again.” The unit costs $75+GST.
Tel. 06 3574288
www.birdbuster.co.nz
