|
LPC at Work in
South
Africa
Ranchers in
South
Africa and
Texas share similar predation
problems.
By Roy McBride
The livestock protection collar (LPC) is used in
South
Africa to stop losses due to
predators—a problem all
Texas producers know
about. South
Africa’s problem jackals are very
similar to our coyotes and Texans can be encouraged by the South
Africans’ success with the LPC. Because of recent negotiations
between the Texas Department of Agriculture, Senator Bill Sims and
Dr. Zerle Carpenter of the Texas Agriculture Extension Service, the
LPC is being made available to Texans in a way that is working well
for South Africans.
The photographs show South
Africa’s number one problem animal.
This black-backed jackal had killed 53 lambs. The lamb in the
picture would have been victim 54 but is still alive because the
livestock protection collar he is wearing is filled with PDB1. This
picture was taken by Geoff Dyer, a Nature Conservation Employee in
Cape Province,
South
Africa. Geoff killed 25 problem
jackals while testing PDB1 and recovered 22 of them. Punctures by
jackals are noted when collared animals display the bright, scarlet
dye on their wool. The bedground used by the sheep the previous
night is then searched for the dead jackal.
PBD1 is now registered for use in the LPC in the
Republic of
South Africa. After
extensive tests to determine secondary hazards, this chemical has
official approval as the appropriate toxicant for use in the LPC.
Several advantages of this toxicant are the following:
- Most
jackals are killed before they have time to kill the lamb.
- Jackals
killed by the LPC are much easier to find.
- No
non-target animals have been killed.
Many
parts of South
Africa resemble ranches found in
Texas and
New Mexico, with
similar stocking rates and almost identical predator problems. While
the problems are similar, it is doubtful that the Environmental
Protection Agency would permit any other toxicant in the LPC besides
compound 1080. American wool producers will have to be content with
the current program as regulated by the various state departments of
agriculture, but many improvements can be made within the existing
guidelines.
During the first
period of trial registration, the Texas Department of Agriculture
reported 34 LPC licensed applicators taking 37 coyotes. These are
good results, but by no means represent the most effective use of
the LPC. TDA guidelines indicate that we are permitted to use 20
collared animals in pastures of 100 acres or less, 50 LPCs in
pastures up to 640 acres, and 100 LPCs in pastures greater than 640
acres. None of the LPC users in
Texas availed
themselves of these sized target flocks. There is good reason why
large sized target flocks should be used and just about every
rancher in the
U.S.
and Africa has an experience that proves
this. How many times have you moved your sheep and goats, after
sustained losses from coyotes, and failed to thoroughly clean the
pasture? Months later you’re in the same pasture and see the remnant
animals that you missed still there and doing fine, but badly in
need of shearing. Why weren’t these animals killed when you removed
the main flock? Opinions may vary on this: 1) The radical reduction
of livestock bothers the coyote; 2) the noise and disturbance
gathering the pasture moves the coyote; 3) the large pasture with
the small remnant is difficult for the coyote to locate. While all
these opinions have merit, I believe number three is the most
significant. Taking all the sheep and goats out of the pasture and
leaving a few collared animals almost always ensures poor results
with the LPC. These target animals will not be killed, with or
without the collars. Coyotes are neither attracted to nor afraid of
the LPC. Therefore, it is left up to the producer to take advantage
of the coyote’s tendency to select “top of the line” lambs/goats
from a large flock.
Producers should recognize the LPC for what it really is. It is a
new kind of “trap” developed to kill coyotes and good trappers
always obey three important rules:
- Location
(a trail or road frequented by coyotes).
- Placement
(leaving the surrounding as natural as possible).
- Bait
(the coyote must be lured to the set).
These same three
rules should be applied “religiously” by LPC users:
- Location
(the pasture where the most frequent predation is occurring).
- Placement
(don’t move the sheep that are in the pasture; leave the target
flock as large and natural as possible).
- Bait
(collared lambs or kids from the same flock).
Since it is obvious
that the most successful use of collars in large pastures involves
large flocks, the following types of programs have evolved in
various countries to implement this technique.
Individual producers.
Robert Quailia (Coahuila,
Mexico),
Charles Howard (Bosque County,
Texas), and Joss Clute
(South
Africa) keep large numbers of
collars on hand and use them in accordance with pasture sizes. They
sometimes have as many as 10 uncollared adult animals per collared
lamb/kid in their target flocks. A target flock could consist of
300-400 adult uncollared ewes/nannies with only 100 or less
kids/lambs. These three individuals have been using LPCs since the
early-1980s with good results.
LPC Clubs. Sometimes
neighboring ranchers pool their resources to minimize capital outlay
but make available a necessary number of LPCs to collar
sufficient-sized target flocks. A good example of this is Bill
Taylor, Hunter Smith, and Brian Prather in the Pinon, N.M. area.
Each bought a kit of 20 collars. They then proceeded to collar 50
lambs with a large number of uncollared ewes in the pasture where
the coyote had taken the most lambs. In another smaller pasture,
they collared 10 lambs with a flock of uncollared ewes. They were
following the three rules outlined above, and in effect, they were
placing two “LPC traps” for the same coyote. This coyote, like
nearly all others the collar is used on, had escaped traps, snares,
aerial hunting, M-44s, etc. With the two “LPC traps” in place, these
ranchers reminded me of the biblical scripture that admonishes the
believer, “that having done all to stand, stand ye therefore.” More
than a month went by, and even though the coyote’s tracks were seen
in the vicinity, the killing just stopped. But like every good
trapper knows, when your equipment is well set and the coyote is
still in the area, just be patient! The coyote finally killed in the
large flock and was found by the ranchers. These ranchers are
welcoming other neighbors to get their own collars and join their
club. All three of these ranchers are licensed, certified
applicators. However, in New
Mexico the license only costs $5 and is good
for 5 years.
County Collar Bank. In
South
Africa counties are called
“divisional councils.” These councils sometimes assist sheep
producers with problem animal control, much as some do in
Texas. These collar
banks function as follows: The council purchases a selection of LPCs
(large and small size for sheep and goats). Example: a wool
producer, having predation in a pasture with 200 ewes and 80 lambs,
goes to the collar bank, leaves a deposit for 80 LPCs, and collars
all the lambs in the pasture. Nothing is moved, nothing is changed.
This technique has the highest success rate of any LPC use,
anywhere. When the jackal is killed, the collar is returned to the
council bank and the deposit is returned, less the purchase-price of
the punctured collars.
Collar Leasing Programs.
The Wyoming department
of Agriculture has purchased LPCs and plans to lease them to
Wyoming producers for
a small fee (plus a charge for any lost or punctured collars). The
idea is to make sufficient numbers of collars available to ranchers
for them to be effective. This revolving fund will ensure that
collar numbers are maintained for future
use. Texas
Collar Pool Programs.
The first pool established in Texas
was formed in Reagan
County
in November of this year. Brent Drenan, the County Extension Agent,
is in charge of the collar-pool and keeps the records for all the
participants. The collars are stored at a ranch which is
conveniently located for Big
Lake
area ranchers. When one of the members has a problem, he will check
out the necessary number of collars to properly target the problem
coyote. Each member is allowed 30 days free use of the collars, but
if additional time is needed, they must pay a rental to the pool.
This simple rule will encourage the ranchers to return the collars
to the pool when the problem is solved. Each rancher in the pool is
a trained, licensed applicator, having successfully completed TDA
requirements. However, the burdensome record-keeping is now being
generously handled by the county agent. Additional collar pools are
in various stages of organization in San Saba, Boerne, Brady,
Junction, Menard, and Mason. TDA has agreed to permit 15 such pools
in Texas
on a “first-come” basis. Ranchers interested in forming collar-pools
should contact their county agent as soon as
possible. |
