Brett Wessler, Staff Writer
Cattle producers losing a member of the herd to an attack by a predator don’t just lose one animal, a recent study shows how the rest of the herd is affected.
Attacks on the herd by predators, namely wolves, have been a hot topic in recent years as wolf populations in northern states have increased. States have reimbursed cattle producers for livestock attacked by predators, but faculty and graduate students at the University of Montana have found producers incur more financial losses in reduced weight gain by the rest of the herd following the attack.
The University of Montana reports the recent study found wolf predation of cattle contributes to lower weight gain in calves on western Montana ranches. The calves weren’t affected by the presence of wolves with territory overlapping the ranch, but once an attack occurred, the average weight of the calves on the ranch decreased by 22 pounds.
The study calculated the financial losses for a ranch with 264 head of calves to total $6,679.
Derek Kellenberg, a co-author on the study and UM associate professor and chair of the Department of Economics, said the calculated costs are much steeper than the one animal lost in the attack, which the producer was given $900 in reimbursement on average.
Wolf attacks weren’t the only factor impacting the weights of calves. Precipitation, temperature and other environmental variables also played a role in a calf’s ability to gain weight.
Faculty and graduate students at the University of Montana worked with the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks and considered 15 years of ranch husbandry.
Wolf attacks on cattle herds declined in 2013 compared to the year before, however they were near totals from 2011. KTVQ reports experts wouldn’t credit the increase in wolf hunts as the reason for the decline.