We grew apples and peaches as well as lots of veggies when I was a kid. My Dad owned 2 acres of suburban land, half of which was forested. He never liked our cat. But, that was because he only saw the unpleasant part of cleaning her box when she wanted to stay inside during the cold of the winter. He never realized how critical she was, in the summer, to his harvests in the fall.
For the first 16 years of the cat's life, we always managed to harvest a plentiful crop every single year. That's because the cat would catch critters that eat fruit and veggies), ranging from squirrels, possums, birds, et. al., shortly after they were born in the springtime. The size of the mother critter didn't really matter because she didn't go after the adult critters. She cleaned out their young. There is always a period of time when baby critters are left alone, while their mother goes out to get them food. That is when the little killing machines, otherwise known as cats, strike!
When our cat finally became geriatric, her hunting skills waned. Critter numbers, given the abundance of hiding places for them in the forest, began to explode. That little cat died at the age of 18 and a half. And, during the last two years of her life, we didn't manage to harvest even one whole fruit. All the fruits were bitten and eaten, in whole or part, by one animal or another. As to the veggies, well, the rabbits made off with all the lettuce, celery and other greens. They didn't bother with tomatoes, peppers, or beans, so we managed harvest those even without the help of our cat. But, nothing else.
My advice is to adopt a few cats. The number will depend on the size of your property. We had 2 acres, and one cat was enough until she grew old and started eating only cat food...
