Where high protein supplements are added to feeds such as cattle feeds, starlings may selectively eat the high-protein portion. Starlings may also transfer disease among livestock facilities, a problem that particularly concerns swine producers. However, researchers have found healthy swine in lots with infected starlings. Thus, even infected starlings may not always transmit the disease, especially if starling interaction with pigs is minimized. TGE may also be transmitted on boots or vehicles, by stray animals, or by infected swine added to the herd.
Starlings cause other agricultural damage by eating cultivated fruits such as grapes and cherries.
In some areas they pull sprouting wheat and other grains and eat the planted seed. Starling roosts in rural and urban sites cause health, filth, noise, and odor problems. Their droppings damage and deface equipment and vehicles. On the beneficial side, starlings eat insects and other invertebrate pests such as lawn or pasture grubs. However, this benefit is partially offset by the fact that starlings often take over nest cavities of native insect-eating birds.