Eastern Wildlife Damage Control Conferences
Date of this Version
9-25-1989
Abstract
GOPHER is a computer program that can assist landowners, extension agents, and resource personnel in determining the cost-effectiveness of various methods of pocket gopher control. The program is interactive and user-friendly. It allows for the input of variables, including: crop type, acreage, expected yield and value, and acreage infested. Material and labor costs can be assigned or standard default values can be used. Other "fixed" variables can be changed, including: pocket gopher density and rate of increase, rate of treatment, rate of retreatment, and forage recovery rate. With these variables and values, GOPHER generates the costs, time, and economic feasibility of pocket gopher control. Control methods include: hand baiting, hand probe, gopher probe, burrow builder, and trapping. It also provides estimates of costs for second treatments and pocket gopher expansion without control. Free copies of GOPHER are available from the authors by providing formatted 5 1/4 inch floppy disks or 3 1/2 inch disks.