How in good conscience can cattle ranchers target carnivores as the cause of their financial woes when 95% of their livestock losses are due to disease, the weather and other non-predator factors?

Released May 12, 2011, by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Agricultural Statistics Board, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
This report is released every five years as a cooperative effort between the National Agricultural Statistics Service and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service – Wildlife Services and Veterinary Services. The information presented in this report is based on producer reports from the January 2011 Cattle survey and includes detailed percentage breakouts of cattle and calf losses by predators and non-predator causes as well as non-lethal control measures.
 Cattle and calf losses from predators

 totaled nearly 220 thousand head during 2010. This represented 5.5 percent of the total deaths from all causes and resulted in a loss of $98.5 million to farmers and ranchers. Coyotes and dogs caused the majority of cattle and calf predator losses accounting for 53.1 percent and 9.9 percent respectively.

Cattle and calf losses from something other than predators

 totaled 3.77 million head or 94.5 percent of the total losses during 2010. Respiratory problems represented the leading cause of non-predator deaths, accounting for 28.0 percent, followed by digestive problems at 13.4 percent.
Cattle and calf losses from non-predator causes

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WINONA, Minn.  – Minnesota officials estimate more than 105,000 turkeys and up to 1,500 cattle were lost due to the recent heat wave.


The Winona Daily News reports both dairy and beef cattle can be worth up to $2,000 each. Also farmers who avoided losing animals still had decreased production created by the high temperatures.

Minnesota Turkey Growers Association Executive Director Steve Olson says the 105,000 turkeys lost equals an economic hit of somewhere between $1.1 and $1.6 million.

There is relief for owners who lost cattle, through the U.S. Department of Agriculture's livestock indemnity program.

Minnesota State Cattlemen's Association Executive Director Joe Martin recommended farmers immediately document their losses and contact their local Farm Service Agency office.

The heat wave started July 16 and left the area Thursday evening.
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Feds find money for Minnesota wolf-control program



U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., told the News Tribune today that Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack pledged to use money from the agency's operating budget to re-start the wolf trapping and killing program.

By: John Myers
The federally funded wolf-trapping effort in Minnesota that ran out of money and shut down Friday could be running again within days after the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture pledged new money for the program.Wolf


There are an estimated 3,200 wolves in Minnesota and about 700 each in Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula, many more than federal officials expected when the animal first received federal protection in 1974. (2009 file / News Tribune)


U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., told the News Tribune today that Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack pledged to use money from the agency's operating budget to restart the wolf trapping and killing program.


"Sec. Vilsack has assured me that he has found the money to extend the program out to the end of the year," Klobuchar said. "We need this program to keep Minnesota livestock and residents safe. ... The gap in that coverage was unacceptable."


Klobuchar said her focus is to push forward an effort by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to "de-list" wolves off the endangered species list by the end of 2011 and hand management back to state and tribal natural resource agencies. Then the state can begin more aggressive wolf-management efforts that also allow the public to shoot trouble-causing wolves.


U.S. Rep. Chip Cravaack, R-North Branch, agreed.


"I commend the USDA for temporarily continuing essential resources for operations to protect private property and ensure public safety from problem wolves while we work to delist the wolf from protected status in Minnesota," Cravaack said in a statement, also urging Congress to legislate wolf delisting in Minnesota rather than waiting for the Endangered Species Act protocol to unfold.


Because expert federal trappers are able to pinpoint their efforts near where farmers and pet owners are having problems, Klobuchar said she's also hoping to keep federal funds available for the trapping program even after the state assumes management of wolves. State officials and some farmers have asked for the federal government to split the cost of focused trapping.


"I'm trying to keep this program alive" in an upcoming Agriculture Department funding bill, said Klobuchar, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee.


The USDA trapping program has been killing wolves in Minnesota since 1978. Last year, the program investigated 272 complaints and killed 192 wolves. In 2009, it killed 199 wolves. This year it was up to 189 until the federal budget year ended Friday and the current Congressional "earmark" for the program ran out of money.


Supporters say the wolf-trapping program acted as not only pinpoint response, but also as a safety valve to relieve social and political pressure among people who don't like wolves and might otherwise take matters into their own hands, killing wolves indiscriminately with poison or guns.


Killing wolves is allowed, even though wolves are a federally protected species, because Minnesota wolves were classified as threatened, a step removed from endangered. In Wisconsin and Michigan, trapped wolves are relocated away from farms.

Peak demand typically occurs starting in April, when calves and lambs are born, and continues through summer. But trappers get calls every month.


There are an estimated 3,200 wolves in Minnesota and about 700 each in Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula, many more than federal officials expected when the animal first received federal protection in 1974.