By Christalee Froese

It’s an idea that started in Norman Englot’s Montmartre farm shop, and now it’s heading to retail shelves. Bet’r Bait, an easy-to-use syringe filled with a non-toxic formula that attracts mice, will be launched at the Montmartre Coop on Friday, Feb. 22. The discovery of this clean and non-poisonous way to attract mice came as Englot got into a bit of trouble with his wife, Loretta, when he tried to bait his farm traps from the family’s household peanut butter jar. “I had mice like crazy in my shop, so I went to grab the peanut butter from the kitchen and Loretta looked at me and said, ‘What are you doing?‘” says the Montmartre farmer, explaining that taking the jar to the shop would likely have led to it being left there, or being exposed to dirt and disease. “I decided that there must be a better way – that’s when the idea of Bet’r Bait came to me.”

Norman came up with an easy-to-use syringe filled with bait, while partners Kevin and Lydia Shiplack created a special non-toxic formula to go into the syringes which mice prefer over peanut butter and cheese. The project has become a family affair, with Norman inventing an air-compressor-based filling system that the Shiplack and Englot families have used to fill over 9,000 Bet’r Bait syringes. The three Englot children, Luc (8), Madison (10), DJ (11), and the two Shiplack boys, Greg (16), Jeremy (12), have become experts at filling syringes and putting stickers on them by hand.

“It’s really a family affair as we’ve all spent hours together figuring out how to make this idea work,” says Kevin, adding that mechanized efficiencies are being explored for the future production of Bet’r Bait. “Our at-home method has been pretty labour-intensive which is fine for the first batch. But now that we’re going to market, we’re researching mechanized alternatives that will allow us to produce Bet’r Bait on a much larger scale – our kids will be very happy about that.”

Bet’r Bait is currently available at the Montmartre Coop Agro Centre, Wolseley’s Home Building Centre and Stedman’s V & S in Indian Head, with other local and provincial retailers being sought. The goal is to have Bet’r Bait available throughout North America. “We want to keep this a family-run business and to create local jobs says Norman.

The Englot and Shiplack families invite everyone to a public launch of Bet’r Bait at 10 a.m, Friday, Feb. 22 at the Montmartre Coop Agro Centre & Convenience Store on Highway #48. Snacks, refreshments and draws will be part of the Bet’r Bait launch.