Posted on 04/25/2025 4:39:37 PM PDT by george76
Wolves in California are costing ranchers millions of dollars far beyond just the price of cattle killed, .. A Wyoming rancher says the secondary costs of predation are well-known here.
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As California’s wolf population expands, the predators there are costing ranchers millions — not just in value of the cattle killed, but through collateral effects as well
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one wolf can cause $69,000 to $162,000 in “direct and indirect losses from lower pregnancy rates in cows and decreased weight gain in calves,” ..
Those results should come as no surprise to Wyoming ranchers, Jim Magagna, executive vice president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association..
“I’ve raised the point many times that it’s not just the animal they kill, there are other costs involved,”
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California Wolf Packs Grow..
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By the end of 2024, California had seven established wolf packs.
California ranchers have expressed alarm over their state’s growing wolf population and attacks on cattle there.
Wolves remain protected in California unlike in much of Wyoming, where ranchers can kill them at any time.
Kirk Wilbur, vice president of government affairs for the California Cattleman’s Association, previously told Cowboy State Daily that his state’s $3 million compensation fund for livestock losses to wolves was starting to run dry.
Study Results From Wolf Scat, Cattle Hair..
The UC Davis study focused on the effects to livestock caused by three wolf packs in northeastern California. Researchers studied interactions between wolves and cattle from June to October in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Researches surmised that “total indirect losses” to ranchers ranged from $1.4 million to $3.4 million.
Among their findings was that 72% of the wolf scat samples taken in 2022 and 2023 contained cattle DNA. Also, that hair samples from cattle contained elevated levels of the stress-related hormone cortisol.
Wolves Make Cattle ‘Bunch Up’..
Ranchers in Wyoming are aware of the secondary effects that wolves and other predators have on cattle, Magagna said.
Wolves can make cattle herds “bunch up” instead of spreading across the landscape and actively graze, he said.
That can lead to weight loss in cattle and lower fertility rates in cows, he said.
“It also impacts the resource (rangeland and forage) as they are forced into bunches,” Magagna said.
That can include things such as bunched-up cattle trampling streambanks or over-grazing certain areas.
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Bean said that as an advocate for wolves, she recognizes that ranchers’ concerns must be taken seriously. Those include worries over effects that go beyond only cattle that are maimed and killed in wolf attacks.
Sorry, should have said “cow elk” rather than “elk doe.”
S, S, and S?
Some years ago I was eating breakfast at a MacDonalds with so pro gun friends and there happened to be a group of wolf enthusiasts adjacent to our booth were discussing an upcoming trip to some place that had wolves. They were loud enough so that on didn’t have to strain to hear them. Along with the enthusiasm there was a comment made about ranchers shooting these marvelous miraculous wonderful animals. I don’t remember the exact wording, but the gist of it was that ranchers had no business defending their property and should be happy to sacrifice a few animals to the gods of wolf worshippers.
Stalin and other leftists hate middle class family farmers, ranchers .. kulaks who take care of their families / defending their property..
Control the food, control the people.
Correct.
Polis’ husband has been pushing to import expensive wolf packs from Canada.. = Makes food more expensive, financially burns thru TABOR refunds that helps the middle class taxpayers / that they have been trying to politically destroy.. and more.
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