Predator Control: Methods and Tips for Protecting Livestock From Predators

With all the talk surrounding the release of wolves in Colorado this past December, and the calving and lambing seasons that are underway or rapidly approaching, now seems a fitting time to review predator control strategies for your livestock operation. 

Depending on your location, different types of predators can pose a significant threat to your livestock, and consequently, your livelihood. In this article, we’ll explore effective methods and strategies to protect your livestock against various predators, from the common coyote to the elusive mountain lion. We'll also explore a few tips that you can implement on your operation quickly for immediate protection. 

Why Create A Predator Control Plan?

For some producers, a predator control plan may only constitute a loaded rifle and a reserve supply of ammo. On the other hand, though, many predator species in the Western United States are under some form of federal or state-level protection, which requires us to become a bit more creative in developing non-lethal strategies that effectively keep predators from preying on our livestock. Having a plan in place before a predator attacks your stock not only protects your animals but also your peace of mind. 

Minimize Economic Losses:

Predator attacks can cost you a lot of money, plain and simple. When you account for the money that you’ve spent to grow your animals along with your loss in expected income, the negative financial impact of predatory attacks can be significant. Implementing effective predator control methods is an investment both in time and money, but in most cases, the benefit outweighs the financial risk of losing stock. 

Protect Livestock Health and Welfare:

Regular predation can have a pretty big impact on the health and welfare of your livestock. Predatory attacks don’t just result in livestock losses, they can also result in multiple injuries, and heightened stress levels among your herds or flocks that limit productivity. 

Maintain Ecological Balance:

Though this article is focused on keeping predators away from your livestock operation, it’d be ignorant not to acknowledge the positive impact predation can have on your surrounding ecosystem. This means that predator control cannot always be a Winchester waiting at your front door. Responsibly balancing predator populations with livestock safety, whether we like it or not, go hand in hand, and both are essential for the overall ecological health of your ranch. Predator-prey relationships are intricate, and effective management is key to preserving biodiversity.

Address Public Safety Concerns:

If predation of your livestock is left unchecked, it’s more likely that attacks could escalate to nearby communities. These animals are smarter than we tend to give them credit for, but they’re also incredibly lazy. If they begin to associate humans and human-related structures with a quick low-effort meal, they’ll continue to take the easy way out as much as possible. As a responsible producer, you’re not only protecting your livestock, you’re protecting the safety of your neighbors as well.

Common Predators in the US, Their Hunting Tactics, and How To Keep Them From Your Livestock

Coyotes 

Coyotes are highly adaptive and opportunistic hunters. While they typically hunt alone, it’s not uncommon to see them hunting in loose pairs, and sometimes even cooperatively with other species. In most regions of the U.S., coyotes pose a constant threat to livestock, but not always a significant one. Because of their opportunistic nature, coyotes will usually opt for easy, small-game prey rather than taking down a calf or an adult sheep (they have been known to go after newborn lambs, though). 

As far as management goes, many people will say “Just shoot ‘em”, since it is legal to do so throughout most of the U.S. The reality, though, is that you likely cannot monitor every acre of your ranch at all times. So, you may need to consider other non-lethal prevention strategies that keep them off of your property altogether such as livestock guardian animals, strong mesh or electric fencing, or motion-activated noise emitters and/or lights. 

One of the most effective ways to limit coyote-related conflict on your property is to simply remove the main thing that attracts these opportunists – easy food. This involves regularly cleaning up fallen fruit, crops, or grains, properly disposing of animal carcasses when necessary, and keeping feed for your livestock and pets indoors or otherwise effectively sealed. 

Wolves

The elephant in the room for our Colorado producers, wolves have seen a resurgence as a result of state and federal efforts to reintroduce their populations in Western States. As many of us know, wolves hunt in incredibly well-organized packs, which combined with their territorial nature, can pose a serious threat to your livestock. It’s also no secret that the laws surrounding protections for the wolf population in the U.S. are significantly different from those surrounding coyote populations, so predator control can become a bit more complicated. 

The good news is that there are a few effective and legal strategies that you can implement on your operation to protect your livestock from wolf depredation. Similar to coyotes, one of the most effective ways to keep wolves away from your property is to remove attractants such as animal carcasses, and sick or injured livestock. 

However, if wolves are so prevalent in your area that they’re bound to find their way to your property anyway, you may consider using permanent or portable electric fencing with fladry (a series of bright-colored cloth flags hung at 18” intervals along your fence line) to contain your livestock until calves, lambs, or newly born animals grow larger. Using electric fencing, in combination with fladry, conditions wolves to stay away, though this is considered a temporary solution as wolves are known to test the fladry after long periods of use (persistent little buggers, aren’t they?). 

Sometimes the frequent presence of humans or a livestock guardian dog is enough to deter wolves, due to their territorial nature. It may be as simple as doing daily checks on your livestock alongside a guard dog, but it’s important to keep dogs away from active den sites, to prevent conflict with wolves that have already “staked their claim” on an area. 

Lastly,  depending on your state and local laws you may be able to use hazing and scaring devices like light and noise emitters, or non-lethal munitions such as propane cannons, cracker shells, rubber bullets, and paintballs to move wolves away from livestock. 

Bears

Depending on your geographical location, you could be facing black bears, grizzly bears, or both. While hunting tactics differ slightly between species of bear, your defense strategies remain relatively the same as those discussed above. Bears are opportunistic and lazy hunters, and aim to find the most calories possible for the least amount of work – this means they can be deterred fairly easily. 

As we discussed above, the quickest way to avoid bear conflicts on your property is to remove or properly store attractants like animal carcasses, food supplies, and human garbage. 

Like wolves, bears can be easily deterred or scared off by electric fences, flashing lights, and loud noises. Though again, this is usually a temporary solution, as bears too will start to ignore the lights and noises when they learn that it’s all bark and no bite. 

Scent deterrents can be an effective tool for turning bears away from your operation, as well. They tend to avoid the smell of bleach or ammonia, and pine-based cleaners.  

Mountain Lions

Mountain lions, or cougars, are incredibly efficient. They hunt alone, typically at night, and have a knack for killing their prey with one lethal bite to the neck or spinal cord. While their populations tend to be low enough not to pose a constant threat to livestock producers, it’s worth considering a few management strategies if they’re known to exist in your region. 

Unlike coyotes and bears, mountain lions won’t usually dig under or tear apart fences, so a sturdy fence may be enough to keep them out. Keep in mind, though, they can climb or jump a fence up 15 feet high. Electric fencing may be a better option if you cannot bring your livestock inside at night. 

Mountain lions, like bears, will use trees and dense brush as cover to silently stalk their prey until they get close enough to kill. Some producers will clear dense brush from their grazing acres or will graze their livestock further away from wooded areas, though I recognize that isn’t always possible for producers on remote or leased land. 

Easy-to-Implement Tips for Ranchers To Protect Livestock From Predators

Strengthen Your Enclosures:

Before you go down the rabbit hole of electric fencing options and noise emitters, check any fencing that you currently have and fix weak points, holes, or gaps that predators could use to access your stock. At least when it comes to smaller predators, sometimes a sturdy, well-maintained fence is enough. 

Increase Livestock Supervision:

As we mentioned earlier, most predators will avoid areas where humans are frequently present. I know it’s easier said than done, especially if you’re a self-run operation without staff, but consider checking on your livestock more frequently. I’ve even seen some people have success warding off black bears by having a radio set to a talk show near their stock; the sound of human voices can sometimes keep them away. 

Proper Carcass Removal:

I talked about properly removing animal carcasses from your operation throughout this article, but here we’re going to outline how to do that. You essentially have four options: rendering, incineration, burial, and composting. None are necessarily better than the other, it just depends on which makes more sense for your operation. 

When you render an animal carcass, you convert it into a pathogen-free byproduct like bone meal. To do this, the animal carcass is essentially pressure-cooked with steam at 265F to kill any pathogens. However, the rendering market is a lot different today than it was in the past, due to concerns over BSE and other transmissible spinal cord diseases. 

Incineration is typically used for smaller animal carcasses (think poultry or swine). It does require a ton of energy, though, both to run the incinerator and maintain it. In some regions, it is legal to burn carcasses in a burn pit on the property, but this is usually a last resort when disposing of infected carcasses. 

Burial is one of the more common, and likely cheaper options for carcass disposal. However, you do have to take care to choose your burial spot carefully, as you can run the risk of groundwater contamination (especially nasty if you use well water in your home). Once you choose your site, the bottom of the trench should be compacted, and a layer of soil 6-12” thick should be in between carcasses. 

Keep in mind too, burial in the winter is more difficult and sometimes impossible if you live in colder climates. It might make more sense to dig a long burial trench in the summertime to be ready for colder months. How’s that for summer fun?!

Lastly, you can choose to compost animal carcasses. This is my personal favorite carcass disposal method (a sentence I never thought I’d write out), since it’s often low cost, fairly simple, and you’re able to let micro-organisms do the brunt of the work for you. It’s also a bio-secure way to dispose of infected carcasses, as the bacteria and fungi in your pile will destroy pathogens. Similar to burial methods, though, you’ll have to carefully choose the site for your composting pile to avoid runoff leaching into surface or groundwater.

Modifying The Landscape To Make it Inhospitable for Predators:

Most predators prefer dense tree line or brush cover as it enables them to sneak up on your livestock instead of prolonging a chase. If you’re grazing on land that you own, you could consider cleaning out dense brush and creating a boundary between your livestock and wooded areas. As I said earlier, though, I do recognize that this isn’t always possible for those of you grazing on large remote acreage, or federal and private land leases. 

Stronger Together - Community Collaboration and Sharing Resources:

If you’re having issues with predators in your area, chances are your neighbors are too. If you don’t already have a relationship with other producers in your area, now’s the time to build one. Talk with them about predators that they’ve had issues with, their strategies for managing predators, and any insights they may have into federal or state laws that impact your region. 

Conclusion: Protecting Your Livestock and Striking a Balance

To wrap this up, effective predator control is a non-negotiable for the well-being of your livestock, your income, and the health of your surrounding ecosystem. There’s a high likelihood that those of you accustomed to dealing with predators are already implementing at least a couple of these strategies, but by continuing to adapt your strategies, you can ensure the safety of your animals while coexisting with local wildlife. Remember to stay informed, collaborate with fellow ranchers, and consider any resources provided by wildlife agencies and rancher organizations to achieve a sustainable and effective predator control strategy on your operation.

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