Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 1-1-1993 The seu of guard llamas to protect sheep from coyote predation Kelly Johnson Powell Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the Agriculture Commons Recommended Citation Powell, Kelly Johnson, "The use of guard llamas to protect sheep from coyote predation" (1993). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 17654. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/17654 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The use of guard llamas to protect sheep from coyote predation 'M by / / /. / ^ f 7 Kelly Johnson Powell A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE Department: Animal Ecology Major: Animal Ecology es have been redacted for privacy Signatures have been redacted for priv Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 1993 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1 PAPER 1: USE AND MANAGEMENT OF GUARD LLAMAS FOR PROTECTING SHEEP AGAINST PREDATION ... 4 ABSTRACT 5 INTRODUCTION 6 METHODS 9 RESULTS 12 DISCUSSION 21 MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS 28 LITERATURE CITED 30 PAPER 2. THE EFFECTIVENESS OF GUARD LLAMAS FOR PROTECTING SHEEP AGAINST COYOTE PREDATION 45 ABSTRACT 46 INTRODUCTION 47 METHODS 50 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 55 MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS 67 LITERATURE CITED 69 GENERAL SUMMARY 80 LITERATURE CITED 82 APPENDIX A: GUARD LLAMA RESEARCH NEWS RELEASE 84 APPENDIX B: GUARD LLAMA RESEARCH POSTCARD 86 APPENDIX C: 1991/1992 GUARD LLAMA OWNER SURVEY 89 Ill ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Iowa State University Department of Animal Ecology, ISU Graduate College, International Llama Association, and the Rocky Mountain Lama and Alpaca Association provided funding for this research. I thank the sheep producers who responded to this survey, and Glenn Frame and Jim Forseth for providing the names of many ranchers with guard llamas. Special appreciation to D. F. Cox who provided statistical advice and C. R. Youngs who provided sheep information. Many other people provided guidance and support. Dr. Bill Franklin, my major professor, conceived the original ideas for this project and introduced me to the world of llamas. Dr. Jim Pease served on my committee and provided valuable writing assistance. Harold Baker and Toni Genalo, from the ISU Statistics Department, helped design the questionnaire and gave survey advice. Duane Skow and Howard Holden provided assistance in obtaining data from the National Agricultural Statistics Service. Special thanks to Terry Price, a llama enthusiast from Colorado, for his support and encouragement. My assistants Sherri Six, Mario Nall, Anita King, Holly Halsch, and Kelli Neilson, deserve many thanks for their many hours of interviewing and data entry. I am grateful to my parents, Rich and Jody, my brothers, Kent and Kory, and the rest of my family for inspiring me to persevere and attain my goals. Thanks to my "second" family, IV Nancy, Raymond, Noel, and my in-laws for providing encouragement, undying interest in llamas and sheep, and a hefty supply of llama paraphernalia. My husband, Larkin, provided constant support when I thought I could not make another phone call or sit at the computer another minute. Thanks for listening to coyote, sheep, and llama babble for 3 years. We both made it, and new challenges await! Lastly, I thank my friends (Julie, Kris, Anjeanette, Martha, Tom, Sandy, Steve, Bao-sen, Heidi, Wally, Stephanie, Dick, Mike, Warren, Melinda, and Tim) who reminded me that there was more to life than graduate school. Thanks for all the hours of stress relief and movie marathons! 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION Predation is a leading cause of mortality in sheep. U.S. sheep losses due to coyotes and other predators reached over $83 million in 1987, up from $72 million in 1986 and $69 million in 1985. The 1987 losses represented 5.4% of the total U.S. sheep population and 8.8% of the total value of all sheep (Terrill 1988). These losses resulted in higher prices paid by the consumer for lamb and wool products. Canid sheep predators, especially coyotes (Canis latrans), are one of the most serious problems facing the sheep industry today. Predation is a critical issue with serious implications to both animal husbandry and wildlife management. A variety of methods for controlling canid predation have been tried, including lethal and nonlethal techniques (Cadieux 1983, Andelt 1987, Wagner 1988). Methods vary greatly in cost and effectiveness and do not always have the desired outcome. The development of nonlethal predator control methods resulted in the reintroduction of the historically important method of using guard animals (Coppinger et al. 1988). Guard animals currently include dogs (Canis familiaris) (Andelt 1992), donkeys (Eauus asinus) (Strom 1987), ostriches (Struthio camelus) and llamas (Lama spp.) (Botkin and Taylor 1985; Markham 1990, 1992) . Recent research has focused on dogs, while alternative guard animals remain relatively unresearched. 2 This project investigated the use of llamas as guard animals for sheep. Many sheep ranchers were already using llamas to protect their flocks (Markham 1990). The goals of this project were to determine the guarding effectiveness of llamas and to determine the most effective way of utilizing them as guard animals. To reach these goals, I considered the following questions: 1) To what degree are they effective? 2) In what types of situations? 3) How much care do the llamas require? 4) What are the expenses involved with using a guard llama? A nationwide telephone survey of 145 sheep ranchers with 204 guard llamas was conducted from July 1991 to April of 1992 to determine the management and husbandry practices of guard llama programs. I also recorded llama characteristics such as sex, age, and behavior. I compared the reported losses to predators before and after adding a llama to the flock, and the losses to predators among different management situations. The predator losses of guard llama owners were compared with the predator losses of sheep ranchers surveyed by the National Agricultural Statistics Service. Explanation of Thesis Format This thesis contains 2 papers suitable for publication. Paper 1 explains the management and husbandry practices used by ranchers with guard llamas. Paper 2 describes the effectiveness of guard llamas at reducing sheep and lamb 3 predator losses, and also compares the predation losses in different management situations. A General Summary follows Paper 2, and literature cited in the General Introduction and Summary follow the Summary. The 2 papers are written using the format specified by the Wildlife Society Bulletin. 4 PAPER 1: USE AND MANAGEMENT OF GUARD LLAMAS FOR PROTECTING SHEEP AGAINST PREDATION 5 ABSTRACT A 1991/1992 nationwide telephone survey of 145 sheep producers with guard llamas determined how llamas were being used by ranchers. Producers had used guard llamas for an average of 3.2 years. The individual llamas had been used as guard animals for an average of 2.6 years because producers sometimes had owned more than 1 llama. Guarded flock size averaged 283.6 (range 4-2150 sheep and lambs, median = 120) in pastures ranging from 2-3238.6 ha (x = 113.7 ha). Most guard llamas were gelded males with an average initial cost of $570, and they were usually introduced to the flock at 0.5-1 year of age. Most llamas (83%, n = 204) were given the same care as the sheep and required no extra care or training. Problems reported were attempted breeding of ewes by llamas and llama aggressiveness towards the flock. Important benefits were easy maintenance and predator control. Eighty percent of 193 llamas were individually rated as very effective or effective at reducing losses to predators. Eighty-eight percent of the producers were either very satisfied or satisfied with their overall guard llama program, and 86 guard llama owners provided average annual savings estimates (x = $1,034) . Llamas are a low maintenance guard animal with the potential to be a cost effective method of reducing sheep mortality caused by predators. 6 INTRODUCTION Canid predation, especially by coyotes (Canis latrans), is one of the most serious problems facing the sheep industry today. Terrill (1988) reported that sheep losses due to coyotes and other predators reached over $83 million in 1987, representing 5.4% of the total U.S. sheep population and 8.8% of the total value of all sheep. The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) reported that the United States had 108,940 ranches/farms with 9,470,600 stock sheep and lambs in 1990 (NASS 1992). Also in 1990, a total of 490,000 sheep and lambs (after tail-docking) were lost to animal predators, representing 37% of the losses from all causes (predator and nonpredator) and a total loss of $21,700,000 (NASS 1991) . Sixty-three percent of the total losses were attributed to nonpredator causes such as weather, disease, and poison. Coyotes were the most important predator, accounting for 64% of all predator losses. A variety of lethal methods for controlling canid predation have been tried or tested, including shooting (Wade 1978), poisoning (Wagner 1988), trapping (Gipson 1975), denning (Till and Knowlton 1983) and toxic collars (Connolly et al. 1978). Methods vary greatly in cost and effectiveness and do not always have the desired outcome. Expensive bounties and indiscriminate poisoning programs have been shown to have little effect on the level of predation on sheep 7 (Wagner 1988) . In addition, many of these technological solutions are too expensive or unavailable to the small-scale sheep farmer.