A new study finds wolf predation of cattle affects calf weight in Montana, according to this press release from The University of Montana.
The study quantifies the economic impact of weight loss after a confirmed wolf kill for an average ranch consisting of 264 head of calves. It finds that a decrease of 22 pounds in the average weight of calves across the herd implies a $6,679 loss at sale for an affected ranch.
“When you compare that to the direct reimbursement of the cow that was killed – about $900 on average – these indirect costs are about seven-and-a-half times the direct cost of depredation,” Kellenberg said.
The full release can be found below.
After I mentioned this news on the radio, George Edwards with the Montana Department of Livestock also shared a University of Wyoming study covered in September of 2013. The University of Wyoming study suggests an even greater disparity between the reimbursements and actual losses to ranchers:
Indirect effects, such as wolf effects on weaning weights, and conception rates, may also reduce profitability. By not including indirect wolf effects, compensation programs may systematically undercompensate ranchers. We use a stochastic budget model of a representative cow–calf ranch in northwest Wyoming to estimate the economic impact of both direct (death loss and injured calves) and indirect effects (decreased weaning weights, decreased conception rates, and increased cattle sickness) of wolf predation. Our results suggest that short-run (i.e., year-to-year) financial impacts of wolf indirect effects may be as large as or larger than the direct effects. Including indirect effects implies that the compensation ratio (i.e., number of calves compensated per confirmed depredation) necessary to fully offset the financial impacts of wolves would need to be two to three times larger than current 7:1 compensation ratio used in Wyoming.
Meanwhile, Business Week takes note of the subzero temps that recently swept the notion. Business Week takes us to a Montana ranch, adding that the shivering cattle signal higher beef costs for restaurants like McDonalds.
As temperatures dipped to a record minus 25 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 32 Celsius), the crew at Dean Wang’s ranch in Baker, Montana, increased alfalfa-hay rations to give his cattle more energy during the arctic blast.
“Cattle are requiring more feed in order to just maintain their body temperature, instead of putting that extra energy into gaining weight,” said Wang, 46, who has about 850 cows that will calve this spring and 550 young cattle. “This year, everyone started feeding a little earlier than what they would have liked, because of the heavy snow and the cold.”
The deep freeze that swept across the U.S. last week, disrupting travel and boosting fuel use, is compounding stress on a shrinking domestic beef industry already struggling with high costs and weather shocks. While crops from oranges to winter wheat avoided major damage, the cold slowed the growth of livestock and extended a rally in Chicago cattle futures to a record, signaling higher beef costs for restaurants including McDonald’s Corp. (MCD:US) and Texas Roadhouse Inc.
FULL PRESS RELEASE
UM Study Finds Wolf Predation of Cattle Affects Calf Weight in Montana
MISSOULA – A recent study by University of Montana faculty and graduate students found that wolf predation of cattle contributes to lower weight gain in calves on western Montana ranches. This leads to an economic loss at sale several times higher than the direct reimbursement ranchers receive for a cow killed by wolves.
The study found that wolves living on the landscape with cattle have no effect on herd weight, but once a ranch has a confirmed wolf kill, average calf weight decreases relative to if that ranch had not experienced a wolf depredation.
“Ranchers have been saying for years that wolves cause weight loss in cattle, but nobody ever had done any research on the topic,” said Derek Kellenberg, a co-author on the study and UM associate professor and chair of the Department of Economics.
Kellenberg worked with UM Associate Professor Mark Hebblewhite from the Wildlife Biology Program and graduate students Joseph Ramler and Carolyn Sime. The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks also cooperated on the study, which analyzed data from ranches in western Montana, including 15 years of records on ranch husbandry, satellite-generated climatological data, spatial data on wolf pack locations and confirmed depredations on 18 ranches.
The study quantifies the economic impact of weight loss after a confirmed wolf kill for an average ranch consisting of 264 head of calves. It finds that a decrease of 22 pounds in the average weight of calves across the herd implies a $6,679 loss at sale for an affected ranch.
“When you compare that to the direct reimbursement of the cow that was killed – about $900 on average – these indirect costs are about seven-and-a-half times the direct cost of depredation,” Kellenberg said.
The study notes that while the economic impact of lower herd weights caused by wolf depredation is not insignificant to ranchers, other ranch-specific husbandry practices and climatological and environmental variables such as annual precipitation, average temperature and snowfall explain a much larger proportion of variance in calf weight over the years than do wolf affects. In fact, these other factors explain the vast majority of the accounted-for variation in annual calf weights.
The study started as a senior thesis by then-undergraduate student Ramler, collecting data from public cattle auction records. When he decided to pursue a master’s in economics from UM, the group started collecting and analyzing data from a survey of individual western Montana ranchers.
Kellenberg hopes the study will help inform policymakers and ranchers as they work on issues related to wolf management.
“This study helps quantify some of the indirect costs that have not previously been accounted for,” he said.
The study was published Jan. 10 in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics and is titled “Crying Wolf? A Spatial Analysis of Wolf Location and Depredations on Calf Weight.” For more information visit http://www.cas.umt.edu/econ/