Meet Joseph “The Mink Man” Carter, the engineer behind a band of rat killing canines. He operates the most unique farm pest control service on the planet, ridding agriculture operations of rats by deploying tamed and trained American mink — rodent slayers extraordinaire.

Jeff Pybus is farming’s invisible grim reaper, slaying rats in the dark as he shoots and films for an addicting, no-frills YouTube channel.

Ground squirrels and voles take tiny bites from soybean fields. The slow bleed over successive seasons is often considered part of the cost of farming, particularly in no-till ground. But, more worrisome than yield loss is an uncomfortable numbers game: Rodent depredation on some Midwest farms is increasing.

Jim Bowen carries a scar from a cottonmouth bite, but when he crossed paths with two leviathan-size timber rattlers, the prospect was almost more than he could handle.