By Gary Sliworsky
Ag and rural rep
The following is the first of a two-part article on lowering predation losses by Barry Potter, OMAFRA:
Livestock predation costs. Predation costs the farmer time, money, and emotional stress when production animals are destroyed.
Predation also costs the government time, money, and emotional stress as public servants and municipal evaluators investigate livestock kills and compensate producers for their losses.
Neither government nor producers wish to see livestock killed by predators. However, communicating to predators that farm animals are “friends, not food” remains a challenge.
Mitigating losses would seem to be the only course of action in living in a world with both predators and predated animals (i.e., livestock).
Several wild animals will attack and consume cattle. Bears, wolves, and coyotes would be the most frequent culprits. In the last few years, coyotes are killing more and more calves.
How do you know if your cattle are the victims of predation? Bleeding and bruising only occurs in live animals or for a brief time after death.
Other tell-tale signs include punctures, cuts, and tears from teeth or claws.
Quick investigation after an animal’s death can determine if the animal was killed by a predator, or died from other causes and then was scavenged by a predator, crows, or other animals.
Other signs of a predator attack can include broken and flattened vegetation, drag marks, blood, or trails of blood.
Some other visible indications of predators include alert, nervous livestock, injured livestock, mother calling and searching for her young, predator hair on fences, dig holes under fences, fresh predator tracks near a carcass, or predator feces near a carcass.
Once you have determined you have a predator problem, what can you do to help mitigate further losses?
The first step is making sure you dispose of any dead livestock, stillborns, or afterbirth. These tissues, if left around, will attract predators—helping them make the leap from cows as “friends” to cows as “food.”
OMAFRA has information online at www.omafra.gov.on.ca as to how to dispose of carcasses by burial or composting.
Farms with brush and forest are subject to more attacks than unforested open areas. Attacks tend to occur more at dawn and dusk.
One option with smaller herds is to bring the cattle in at night to a confinement area. But costs for predator-proof fencing become somewhat prohibitive when large numbers of cattle are involved, plus the labour involved can be overwhelming.
Other costs of confining cattle include increased coccidiosis load, fly build-up, and reduced growth.
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Events to remember
•July 28–Rainy River Soil & Crop tour; and
•July 28–Emo Agricultural Research Station open house (7 p.m.)
