Reading Time: < 1 minute Delegates at Alberta Beef Producers AGM last month defeated a resolution to put coyotes on Alberta’s wildlife predator list so producers could claim compensation when they killed cattle. It was defeated because of concerns about the sustainability of this type of coverage from the government’s coffers, and because coyote control was something that could be […] Read more

Coyote compensation considered

Wolves filling up on cattle in southwestern Alberta
Cattle are the No. 1 prey of wolves where ranches and the predator’s territory overlap
Reading Time: 3 minutes If you ranch in southwestern Alberta, it might seem that the big, bad wolf is out to get you. Unfortunately, you’re right. A University of Alberta study that tracked wolves — and what they eat — found cattle made up 45 per cent of the predator’s diet during the grazing season. The study tracked wolf […] Read more

We need a better approach to dealing with wildlife
Beef 911: Farming has created a great environment for wildlife but farmers are paying a steep price for the damage it causes
Reading Time: 4 minutes There have been many articles on the escalating conflict between wildlife and agriculture (both livestock and grain production) in certain areas of Canada. Our governments are struggling as to what to do and the most recent survey on wildlife damage by Alberta Beef Producers and the Miistakis Institute shows a high percentage of farmers impacted […] Read more

Wildlife damage is a problem — but not reporting a bigger one
Program changes aren’t going to happen if producers don’t start reporting wildlife losses
Reading Time: 2 minutes Wildlife damage is a big problem across Alberta — but you wouldn’t know it from the number of beef producers reporting losses to the Alberta government. About 60 per cent of producers recently surveyed about wildlife damage said that they never reported losses from predators, while 80 per cent never reported forage competition from ungulates. […] Read more

Lamb producers tallying the cost of coyote predation
Coyotes are classed as pests, and so producers receive no compensation for lost livestock
Reading Time: 4 minutes It’s always a nightmare when a sheep producer goes out into the yard and sees that an animal has been ripped apart by predators. “Some years are worse than others,” said Bill Gibson, a sheep producer near Bashaw. “We did lose 25 lambs one year in a short period of time, and that was very […] Read more