STETTLER, Alta. – Livestock producers with problems of coyotes killing their animals need to adopt several approaches to bring the wildlife problem under control.
A combination of guard dogs, grazing techniques, poison, good fences and a gun will help control predator losses, said Doug Brennan, a predator control officer with Alberta Agriculture.
“A little bit of everything will keep your losses down,” Brennan told about 100 producers during the Ultimate Sheep Seminar in Stettler.
When Brennan was hired in 1982 by the provincial agriculture department, he was one of eight predator control officers dedicated to helping livestock producers reduce losses. Now he’s one of two people working part time on the issue.
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What hasn’t changed is the coyote.
The curse of many sheep producers is smart and adaptable and can learn farmers’ routines, said Brennan.
Coyotes mainly kill lambs and some ewes, but rarely rams. The classic kill technique is to chase the sheep, bite it at the throat and shift its grip to puncture the windpipe. The animal usually dies of asphyxiation.
Coyotes don’t normally eat the meat, but prefer to open the animal’s flank and eat the vital organs. Sometimes they may not even eat the animal while other times they’ll kill more than one. The worst carnage he saw was 12 dead lambs in one incident.
Brennan said coyotes sometimes kill newborn calves or cows having troubles getting up after a difficult calving.
But it’s not only coyotes that attack farm animals. The attacks all look different.
Wolves prefer the meat of the animal, not the organs. Bears attack from the shoulders forward and a dog usually chases the animal around before mutilating but not eating it.
Brennan said the agriculture department spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to develop nonlethal strategies that prevent predator kills without killing the coyote.
A community pasture near Grande Prairie, Alta., used to regularly lose 200 head of lambs each season to coyotes.
“It was a never-ending battle,” said Brennan.
An electric fence was built around the perimeter of the community pasture. It worked for a while until the coyotes learned to navigate through the wire. Because of their thick coats and hair on their paws, at least 5,000 volts of electricity through the wire was needed to keep the coyotes out.
“It needed a lot of charge,” he said.
When the grass grew high or trees fell on the fence and lowered the electrical current, the coyotes were quick to sneak through.
“It has got to be monitored a lot.”
Guardian dogs have become popular for guarding sheep but have mixed success. Training a guard dog is a two-year process and not all guardian dogs work well. To keep the coyotes away, the dogs must bond to the sheep flock and have as little interaction with humans as possible. One Alberta family uses 14 guardian dogs for a 1,200 head flock.
“I saw many dogs fail. They protected the kids, but not the sheep.”
Dogs don’t kill the coyote, but defend an area.
“Coyotes can understand that.”
Brennan said the key to reducing wildlife kills is to keep sheep in protected areas. Small flocks should be kept in a confined area at night and young lambs shouldn’t be grazed in an area with tall brush or grass where coyotes can hide.
“If a coyote sees a little lamb no bigger than a rabbit, they’ll eat it. You’re turning a coyote into a livestock killer.”
Once a coyote starts to pick off lambs, Brennan said it’s unlikely to stop. The sheep must be confined, or the coyotes killed with poison or bullets.
Agricultural fieldmen with each Alberta county or municipality are trained to help farmers use poison for coyotes. It is also legal to shoot coyotes that kill livestock, he said.
