Most Midwest farmers have experienced crop damage due to deer. But how many farmers have experienced crop damage due to elk?
Will and Kelsey Peasley and his parents, David and Tammy Peasley, are cattle and organic-crop farmers near Black River Falls.
When asked what will be the biggest challenge on the farm this year, Will Peasley said, “Besides the weeds, dealing with the herd of elk that keep eating our corn, alfalfa and pasture.
“Being organic, there are grazing requirements. When there are 35 head of elk consistently in your pasture, it makes me very uncomfortable pasturing my cattle out there. It’s my problem now but if they shift, because they are a herd animal, it becomes another farmer’s problem.”
He said the problem is exponential.
“Three years ago the herd was around 15, and two years ago it was around 30,” he said.
Now he figures about 70 elk roam in herds between his farm and two others.
He showed Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources staff his 8-acre field, which he planted in organic corn in 2024. When the herd of 35 elk appeared in July, he said the WDNR gave him a paintball gun to deal with it.
“(But) with the work on the farm and five small children, I have no time for harassing (elk),” he said. “The 8 acres were a total loss. The damage program caps at $10,000 so anyone with real damage is getting a fraction of what they lost. We transitioned from being self-sufficient, growing all our own corn, to now for the last two years being a purchaser.”
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