Loading...
The Rural Voice, 2003-11, Page 16Wild and not so wonderful Most farmers enjog seeing wildlife as much as angone else. Theo just don't like paging the cost of feeding them. Story by Keith Roulston (with information from Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association) It was a sickening sight on Glen McNeil's Goderich-area dairy farm that morning back in August when the cows were brought in from their overnight pasture at 6:00 a.m. Three of the prize herd's cows had been attacked overnight by marauding coyotes. One had a broken hip. Another cow's udder had been torn beyond possibility of healing. Both cows had to be destroyed. Another cow, despite teeth marks in her udder and severe bruising, was salvaged. The two cows lost were valued at $20,000, McNeil says, but the loss is more than monetary. It's heartbreaking to see healthy animals suffering from seemingly wanton cruelty caused to your livestock, he says. "Some individuals may minimize the situation but they might think differently if it was their livestock." The area inland from Lake Huron is not one that seems particularly inviting to coyotes. There isn't a lot of bush cover and the fields are open for miles but the coyotes are becoming very brave, both from the desire to hunt among the adults and their attempts to teach their young how to hunt, McNeil says. McNeil is not the only neighbour victimized by hunting coyotes, says Ben Van Diepenbeek, reeve of the local municipality of Ashfield- Colborne-Wawanosh. Fourteen sheep were killed as well as a number of 12 THE RURAL VOICE Reintroduced species, like these turkeys being released in Huron County in 2001, are added headaches for farmers. calves, apparently by one family of coyotes and their young. Another neighbour has had horses attacked. Van Diepenbeek has been pushing the County of Huron to institute a bounty on coyotes to help bring the situation under control. The Ministry of Natural Resources has been contacted for a meeting to see what can be done but by mid-October no meeting had taken place. To protect his cattle McNeil has been leaving them in the barn overnight, even though he'd prefer to have them out grazing on summer nights. He just can't risk his animals, he says. Unfortunately McNeil and his neighbours are not alone in their problems with wildlife. A study by the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA) found that total wildlife damage to crops and livestock in 1998 totalled $41 million. If you are a farmer living close to a large and diverse natural area, the presence of wildlife, and subsequently wildlife damage, is inevitable, says OSCIA. It's not a question of doing away with wildlife damage, but rather farming in a way that minimizes the potential losses. In an effort to gather and share information on preventative measures, the OSCIA has collected stories of farmers' efforts to find ways to control or at least better cope with wildlife depredation. The reporting is part of an initiative supported by Agriculture and Agri - Food Canada's Agricultural Environmental Stewardship Initiative, administered in Ontario by the Agricultural Adaptation Council and the Ontario Farm Environmental Coalition. One of those farmers is Brian Smith, a cash crop farmer living just west of the 13,000 -acre Luther Marsh Wildlife Management Area, near Kenilworth. He grows a variety of crops including corn, soybeans, wheat, barley, millet and canola on a total of 2,000 acres, about 1,500 rented. "I enjoy seeing geese and deer, any wildlife, as much as the next fellow, but I also have to look at their presence in terms of my crop yields," says Smith. Canada Geese, deer, raccoon and porcupine ,cause him the most damage. Different species of wildlife exploit different crops in different ways and at different times of year. Knowing all those variables goes a long way in using appropriate farming strategies to minimize wildlife damage. "Some farms are more prone to damage than others," Smith notes. "These can be farms that are side-by- side and seemingly similar. One farm will have damage and the other not. But knowing that can help you decide what to plant where, and what to keep your eyes open for."