There’s little doubt that coyote numbers and kills are up. How to address the issue is far from clear or simple.
Coyotes are Chris Kennedy’s biggest management issue. "I lose more sleep over coyotes than anything else," says the Eastern Ontario sheep farmer.
While predatory behaviour is on the rise compensation for lost livestock has remained the same and does not cover the full monetary loss to the farmer. Predator compensation paid out by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) is based on market meat value and the $200 that Kennedy receives for ewes doesn’t cover the loss of a purebred animal or breeding stock. A bred ewe, he says, is worth much more than $200. Kennedy has 900 breeding ewes on his Amherst Island farm west of Kingston.
A carcass must be provided to receive compensation and that is often impossible with lost lambs. Coyotes will take a lamb right out of the pasture and with a large flock, the farmer may not realize lambs are missing until he does a count at the end of the week.
"But, not all coyotes are a problem," he says. Some pay little heed to live stock, living on whitetail deer, ground hogs and rabbits. Hunting is a learned behaviour and pups learn to eat what their parents eat.
Some years are worse than others and Kennedy would dearly like to know why that is. There have been years when he has lost up to 10 per cent of his lamb crop. In 2009 he almost got through the entire summer with out any kills. His neighbour on the other side of the island, however, wasn’t as lucky and lost lambs all summer long.
Many farmers use guard animals like llamas, dogs and donkeys to protect their flocks but even that seems not to work anymore, he says. Coyotes are becoming bolder and hunting in packs, which are overwhelming the guard animals.
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