Farm predators can wreak havoc on your livestock’s health and well-being. Protecting your land is about more than keeping your animals alive and stress-free, it’s about reducing the emotional stress you carry associated with the depredation of your farm animals.
Keep your livestock safe and healthy by reading our guide on farm predator protection. We cover common farm predators, signs of their presence, and preventative measures that can keep your land free from animal intruders.
Know Your Enemy
Wildlife creatures can pose a danger to humans and livestock. A strong predator control strategy begins by identifying the natural predators in your area. Each has different identifiable characteristics and requires unique preventative measures.
Research the predator’s behavior, hunting patterns, and signs of their presence, including tracks and droppings. Ask yourself: When do they hunt? What do they like to eat? How do they eat?
Here are a few tips to help you identify an animal predator:
- Consider where the wound is on the animal, the type and depth of the wound, and whether teeth, claws, or talons were used. Is the animal in one piece or ravaged?
- Determine the location of the attack and tread carefully as you look for signs such as tracks and droppings.
- Consider the feeding behavior of your animal and look for any broken bones, gashes, and bruising. For example, coyotes go for the throat while hawks use their talons to snatch prey.
Common Farm Predators
Wildlife can enter your property to munch on your garden, dig through your trash, eat other animals, or seek shelter from the harsh elements. Common farm predators include reptiles, birds, and mammals.
Depending on your location, you may need protection from these common predators. We also include signs of their presence:
- Coyotes
- Scratch and bite marks near the jugular vein
- Rope-like droppings that may contain hair and bones
- Howling
- Leftover remains of animal
- Straight line of tracks
- Dogs
- Killed or mauled animals (not eaten)
- Eggs eaten
- Several birds killed
- Missing heads or legs pulled through fence
- Bites, rips, or gashes on body
- Stressed animals
- Wounds or broken bones on animals
- Bobcats
- Missing animal
- One or two animals killed
- Digestive tract is not consumed
- Bites on top, neck, or back
- Claw marks on body
- Clean edges on flesh and bone
- Heads eaten or removed
- Mountain lions
- Multiple animal kills in one night
- Bites on the neck or skull
- No claw marks on tracks
- Track has tear drop toes and m-shaped rear pad
- Neck and front quarters are their prime target; may break ribs and crush leg bones; digestive tract is left
- Animal carcass near bushy or covered area
- Removed and covered organs with debris a short distance from the carcass
- Hawks
- Circling above the chickens
- One kill per day
- Neck or head of the animal is eaten
- Defecation at kill site (streaks of whitewash)
- Animals with puncture wounds from the hawk’s talons
- Missing feathers or pile of feathers
- Owls
- Owl pellets (undigested food, including hair and bones)
- Watery and white droppings; can be black
- Small animal remains
- One kill per day
- Heads of chicken removed
- Opossums
- One chicken kill at a time
- Mauled chicken
- Crushed eggs
- Foxes
- Killed poultry or young livestock
- Damage to throat and back
- Missing poultry and eggs
- Poultry breast and legs eaten first
- Buried remains
- Raccoons
- Noises in potential den locations (chimney, attic, etc.)
- Knocked over garbage cans
- Dark, cylindrical droppings
- Missing or spilled pet food
- Missing eggs or chickens
- Chewed or torn chicken breasts and crop
- Hand-like footprints
- Weasels and minks
- Teeth marks and chewed holes in eggs
- Many birds killed with heads eaten
- Bites on jugular vein, skull, or upper neck
- House cats
- One or several animals killed
- Heads eaten or removed
- Carcass dragged a short distance away
- Large crushed bones
- Claw marks on back, shoulder, and body
- Bites on neck or top
- Snakes
- Missing eggs
- Snake skins
- Small holes in structures that snakes could enter and exit
Protect Vulnerable Animals
Most predators are opportunistic and go for the easiest kill. Some livestock may require special considerations if they are sick, weak, old, young, or in labor. Provide them with a safe and secure location where they can rest away from predators during their most vulnerable moments.
Guard Roaming Poultry
Free-ranging birds are vulnerable to predators. For maximum protection, install a run or enclosure connected to the coop. This gives them a safe space to roam. Consider a movable chicken tractor if you can’t do a run.
For overhead run protection, chicken wire is an affordable and effective solution that can protect your birds from aerial predators. Its physical presence can be enough to prevent birds of prey from scouting out your flock, especially if you use a colorful orange netting. If they attempt to infiltrate, they can become entangled in the net, allowing your chickens to run to the coop.
A rooster or two can protect your flock by signaling with a call when a threat appears, sending the hens back into the coop. They may even fight off hawks. Check your local rooster regulations before bringing them in and quarantine them for 30 days before introducing them to the flock.
Maintain a Secure Fence
Having the right type of fence is crucial to protecting your livestock. Fence height and features will vary depending on the predator you’re dealing with. Some predators, like mountain lions, may require higher fencing, while others, like coyotes, may require you to bury the fence underground for extra protection.
Electric fencing can be an effective way to protect your property, poultry, cattle, pigs, goats, and other livestock from bears, coyotes, foxes, deer, and other invaders. Knowing which predators are in the are can help you determine the correct voltage and fence wire spacing. Some fencing requires more visibility since some animals, like horses and bears, have poor eyesight.
Graze Together
There’s always safety in numbers. Allowing different species to graze together can reduce the risk of predator attacks. This keeps more vulnerable and small animals like goats protected by larger animals like cattle.
Practice Proper Food Storage
Avoid leaving pet food or livestock feed outside or easily accessible, especially at night when scavengers roam for scraps. Instead, keep food in a secure location in puncture-proof containers. In some cases, you may need to keep chicken waterers and feeders in the coop or cover the feeding area in the run to protect chickens from hawks and owls.
Guardian Animals
Guardian animals can keep an eye on your livestock when you can’t, especially at night when many predators, like raccoons, hunt. Guardian animals include roosters, donkeys, dogs, llamas, and alpacas. Barn cats can keep rodent populations down.
Guard dogs have been used for millennia and continue to protect livestock. Popular guardian dog breeds include the Anatolian Shepherd, Great Pyrenees, Komondor, and Kuvasz dogs.
Livestock Guardian Dog breeds are large in size and possess protective instincts, but vary in other traits such as prey drive, reactivity, trainability, and more. Before getting a Livestock Guardian Dog for your herd or flock, be sure to research its breed and pedigree.
Install a Reflective Deterrent
For hawks and other birds of prey, a shiny and reflective deterrent, such as a CD, DVD, or reflective tape, can be strategically placed along the coop or at the top of the run. The bright flashes of the material scare flying predators away.
Hy-Ko Reflective Driveway Marker, Red, 48 in.
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Install Deterrent Lights
Solar-powered LED deterrent lights are excellent tools to protect livestock from various predators. Motion-sensor lights can detect when the predator approaches and spook them off. Placement is key. Other motion-triggered devices such as alarms or sprinklers may also work.
Practice Good Husbandry
Good husbandry practices can be life-saving. Research which seasons your predators ramp up their attacks, such as when feeding their offspring. For example, you can change the breeding schedules of your livestock to come before or after the predator’s increased feeding period.
Keep Your Property Clean
Avoid adding dairy, eggs, and meat to your compost pile, which can attract predators. Properly store pet food and livestock feed. Clean up after livestock gives birth and when an animal dies on the property.
Keep your property clean to keep certain animals from nesting in your home. This means removing any potential habitat for predators, such as piles of brush, patches of weeds, unkempt vegetation, piles of garbage, and other debris that can be used as a den.
Use Animal Repellents
Animal repellents come in various forms depending on the predator. They are used to deter predators from coming near a specific area. These can include everything, from the urine of their predators or other chemicals that aren’t to their liking.
Use Beneficial Insects
Pest insects wreaking havoc on your farms, such as pollen beetles, slugs, and aphids, can be controlled by their natural enemies. To protect your plants, you can use predatory insects, such as wolf spiders, ladybirds, and ground beetles. Ground beetles mainly hunt on the soil surface.
Many species hunt for several pests. Predator species such as lacewings, hoverfly larvae, and parasitic wasps can control invasive prey species. Spiders and mites are beneficial arthropods that also prey on insects.
Change Predator Control Techniques
Animal predators are smart enough to pick up on your strategies. For example, you may need to install a higher fence or motion-sensor lights for larger animals. Many farmers recommend changing strategies every few days. For example, you could use deterrent lights and switch to alarm deterrents a few days later to confuse and scare predators.
Contact Wildlife Services
When the problem gets serious, and your strategies aren’t working, state and federal wildlife services can assist you with creating a solution to protect your livestock. Contact local wildlife services if you are interested in trapping or killing predators.
Shop Predator Control Supplies at Wilco Farm Stores
Protect livestock from predators by giving them safe housing, fencing off their space, and using guardian animals. To prevent attacks and create a secure farm, shop at Wilco Farm Stores for repellents, fence and coop materials, storage bins, and much more.
