PINEDALE, Wyo. — With spring right behind the door and temperatures fluctuating accordingly this month, certain species of livestock have offspring fresh from the womb on the ground at this time. With little ones running around pastures, whether they are lambs, calves or chicks, livestock will need heavy protection against the Midwest’s most common wild predators – coyotes.
Any experienced livestock manager will already have some kind of defense against coyotes and other predators in place. But as urban and suburban development encroaches on former farmland, and forests are cleared as farmland to replace lost land, some coyotes may turn to livestock as an alternate food source with enhanced vigor. Those operations still having trouble with wild nuisances should consider other defense options, such as a livestock guardian dog (LGD). Cat Urbigkit, a sheep producer from Pinedale, Wyo., published her book Brave and Loyal: An Illustrated Celebration of Livestock Guardian Dogs in January. Managing a Rambouillet sheep operation in large carnivore territory, Urbigkit knows a thing or two about protecting livestock from predators.
Urbigkit’s pack of 24 dogs on her sheep ranch not only have to contend with coyotes when protecting the flock, but wolves, mountain lions and bears, too. Though most Midwest livestock producers do not deal with that caliber of predator, anyone can learn from Urbigkit’s experiences breeding and raising LGDs to protect a perimeter and to have the “heart, drive and desire” to protect a group of animals. Paradise Sheep Co., Urbigkit’s ranch in western Wyoming, is on a high elevation mountain valley. Urbigkit said location and farm size are important factors when choosing a breed of dog to protect your livestock.
“Each farm is unique, and you need to figure out what you need for your outfit,” she said. “If a producer is faced with only coyotes, that’s a different need than mine. And the size of your outfit will also dictate the type of dog you might need – for instance, how much open space you have as compared to forested areas. Some guard dogs like to roam, and that works really well for sheep outfits like me, but it’s not as good for a smaller farm that needs a dog to stay within a perimeter.”
Farms near developments or large numbers of neighbors may want to have a less-aggressive guardian dog breed, whereas farms that might face people – livestock thieves – as predators will want more aggressive dogs who will respect only the humans who feed them. On the other hand, dogs should be socialized enough so that the producer can easily catch and handle them should a situation, such as a dog needing medical attention, occur.
Urbigkit believes the most effective way to decide what breed and how many guard dogs a given producer needs is to consider what the predator challenge is. “With coyotes, any guard dog is better than none,” Urbigkit said. “If you have persistent coyote problems, I recommend getting a mixture of dogs in terms of age, sex and breed.”
These factors, which affect the temperaments of individual dogs, will allow for one dog to stay back with the flock while another intimidates coyotes and attacks if needed.
Other possible threats to sheep and other livestock species in the Midwest include domesticated dogs. In that case, Urbigkit said it is important to have a canine-aggressive breed of guard dog. For producers looking to replace an older dog with a younger one, it may be advisable to start the new dog out as a puppy on the operation. This requires a bond be made between the dog and sheep early on.
“One of the keys, of course, is getting pups off to a good start,” Urbigkit said.
“Once a female goes to give birth to the pups, we always make sure to line that den with wool that we’ve saved from that spring shearing, so that when pups are first born, they are laying in that nice, soft, warm wool, and their eyes are closed, so they are getting the smell of the flock that I want them to protect, and they are getting that warmth and comfort, so they are going to associate that and their mother with the scent of those sheep. That way they will have a natural attraction to the flock later on.”
Another way to promote bonding of pups with the animals they will be protecting is by placing puppies in apen with very young livestock such as lambs or calves, ensuring the pups are too small to endanger the livestock, and the livestock are too small and docile to endanger the puppy.
Urbigkit said this works especially well if you only have one dog because, being a social animal, it will seek companionship from the livestock. When the dogs get a little older, putting them in a pen of young adult rams, for instance, will teach them “manners” when they are in a stage of development where they want to test their boundaries.
Of course, using LGDs is not going to be a perfect fit for every farm, especially those close to neighbors unwilling to put up with continuous barking from the dogs to deter coyotes all night.
The Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) recommends these methods to deal with predators when guard dogs are not an option:
•Use net-wire or electric fencing to keep
coyotes away from livestock.
•Shorten the length of calving or
lambing seasons.
•Confine livestock in a coyote-proof
corral at night.
•Use lights above corral.
•Use strobe lights and sirens to scare
away coyotes.
•Remove dead livestock promptly so
coyotes won’t be able to scavenge.
The DNR also indicates that landowners, or a person with written permission from a landowner, may hunt coyotes year-round on private property by snaring, trapping or shooting without a permit from the DNR. A landowner does not need a permit to kill coyotes on his or her property by one of these methods, but a hunting or trapping license is required to hunt or trap coyotes on land other than your own.
