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Predator-Proof Fence in Douglas County Provides Latest Relief from Wolf Attacks

Predator-Proof Fence in Douglas County Provides Latest Relief from Wolf Attacks

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Vaseline

A predator-proof fence around a pasture on a Douglas County farm has prevented wolves from attacking cows and calves inside the enclosure. It is the sixth fence of its type built in Wisconsin.

MAPLE – The Soyring family has been farming this part of Douglas County since 1904.

It is located on the Lake Superior Clay Plain, a predominantly flat coastal area in Wisconsin and Michigan with reddish, clayey soils and mixed forests.

From a high vantage point, you can view the blue of the largest Big Lake and the cliffs east of Duluth, Minnesota.

The land around Maple is a checkerboard pattern of farms, woodlots and swamps. The Brule River State Forest occupies a wild swath just to the northeast.

There are more productive agricultural areas in Wisconsin. But the Sorings have made their living for five generations by growing crops, milking dairy cows and, in the current operation, raising and caring for beef cattle.

There is also a lot of wildlife in the area.

According to Jim Soyring, historically, that hasn’t been as much of a problem for farmers and ranchers in the area as it has been over the past two decades.

“My grandfather would not have believed what we are experiencing,” said Soyring, 54.

Soyring and his wife Lisa now run the family farm, assisted by their four children, including the eldest, 27-year-old Dustin. The operation focuses on breeding Black Angus cattle.

Gray wolves have become their most difficult management issue. The native predator was decimated in Wisconsin in the 1960s by bounties, poisoning and unregulated hunting, but protections, including the federal Endangered Species Act, have allowed the population to increase significantly over the past 50 years.

According to the Department of Natural Resources, the latest report estimates that by the end of winter 2023, there will be 1,007 wolves in 283 packs in Wisconsin, most of them in the northern third of the state.

Jim Soyring said he saw wolves in the Maple area in the early 1990s. It wasn’t until the 2000s that wolf attacks became a chronic problem for the family’s livestock. Among the animals killed by wolves was a show heifer raised by Dustin.

According to DNR data, the Soyrings lost six animals to wolf attacks in 2023.

“If there’s a wolf-livestock conflict in Wisconsin, you’re right in the middle of it,” said Dave Ruid, a supervisory biologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Wildlife Services during a July 16 visit to the farm.

USDA Wildlife Services staff assist ranchers to “protect agriculture, natural resources, property, and health and safety” and use a “multidisciplinary approach to identify solutions to reduce or eliminate wildlife disease and harm.” Work includes trapping and killing animals, including wolves when legally permitted, around known predator hunting areas and using nonlethal deterrents.

The Soyrings graze cattle and grow crops on 1,000 acres. It includes 13 separate pastures that are used to rotate, or separate, about 400 head of cattle. In total, the operation has about 37 miles of fencing, Jim Soyring said.

Almost everything is standard four-wire. As farmers know, such fencing is designed to keep livestock in and is poor at keeping potential predators out.

But further towards the centre of the farm is a special 36-hectare fence, surrounded by a ‘predator-proof fence’.

It was designed by Ruid and Brad Koele, DNR wildlife damage specialists.

The fence has a 188cm high mesh (too high for a wolf to jump over) with smaller meshes near the ground so that smaller predators such as coyotes or foxes cannot get through.

And perhaps most significantly, it features a 42-inch wire apron that extends across the ground on the outside of the perimeter, preventing wolves and other animals from digging under the fence.

The predator-proof fencing was installed on the Soyring family farm in September 2023. How are you enjoying it?

“We’re very happy that we have it,” said Dustin Soyring. “It’s a huge improvement in what we can do to protect our livestock.”

Since its construction, no wolf or other predator has been able to penetrate the 36-acre enclosure. And no calf or other animal inside has been injured or killed.

Soying’s predator-proof fence was the sixth built in Wisconsin. Three are designed for sheep ranches, three for cattle and calves, Koele said.

All of them have proven to be 100% successful in preventing attacks on livestock.

That’s right. Since the day in 2020 that the state’s first predator-proof fence was built on a sheep ranch in Price County, not a single wolf has managed to penetrate one of the specially designed fences and harm or kill one of the animals.

The same goes for other potential predators of domestic animals, such as black bears, coyotes, and red foxes.

People have worked to protect livestock from wild animals for thousands of years.

Indigenous peoples around the world placed shrubs and other materials as protective barriers around their camps and animals.

In 1717, a proposal was made in the Cape Cod region for a wolf-proof structure (a six-foot high fence). However, the proposal failed due to complaints from neighbors who did not want the wolves “kept out,” according to the 1944 book Wolves of North America.

In 1908, the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Forest Service tested the effectiveness of a fence around a 6,500-acre pasture in Oregon’s Wallowa National Forest. It showed that the structure reduced attacks by coyotes but not by black and grizzly bears.

The need for new methods of protecting livestock has increased in recent decades as the wolf population in the Great Lakes region has grown. Wolves are large enough to bring down or injure animals as large as horses. However, most of the depredations are on calves and sheep.

Livestock depredations by wolves in northern Wisconsin typically occur in two time windows, according to Eric Fromm of USDA Wildlife Services. One is April and May, and the other is mid-July through late September. The periods are separated by a “calving frenzy pause” when wolves prey on newborn white-tailed deer, Fromm said.

To help Wisconsin farmers, Ruid and Koele got together in 2019 and came up with a fence that would keep out predators.

“It was us who had a catalog of tractor supplies and said, let’s try this, and how about that?” Ruid said.

The first was installed in 2020 with funds from a Congressional appropriation to USDA Wildlife Services for nonlethal predator control. The money is available annually for states with predator-livestock conflicts. About $60,000 is available each year for projects in Wisconsin, Ruid said.

Funding from the DNR and a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services grant for livestock production also allowed for the installation of three predator-resistant fences.

Such predator-proof enclosures have become even more important since the gray wolf was reinstated under the Endangered Species Act in 2022, meaning lethal means can no longer be used to protect livestock from wolves.

Ruid said this means he, Fromm and his other USDA Wildlife Services colleagues are working with “only half a toolbox.”

The Soyring farm also has fladry (flags attached to a wire or fence) and a “scare radio” on their property. The solar-powered radio plays human voices or music at night and occasionally turns on a bright light.

Such nonlethal reductions may work for a while, Fromm said. But eventually, wolves learn they can get past them and into pastures where livestock are.

In 2023, the state paid out $171,385 in compensation for wolf attacks in Wisconsin, according to the DNR’s annual report. The losses included 36 calves killed and 37 missing calves. About 20 Wisconsin farms had confirmed wolf attacks on livestock in the latest reporting period.

While only a small portion of Wisconsin farms face conflicts with wolves, for those that do, it’s a significant added burden, Fromm said.

And the financial compensation program covers only a portion of the losses. For example, ranchers are not compensated for cattle losing weight to fleeing predators or calves being trampled by cows while fighting off attacks, says Jim Soyring.

There is not enough money to build a predator-proof fence around every farm in the wolf’s habitat. And not every property is suitable for such a fence.

The structures require a relatively flat surface. For example, they cannot be successfully installed over ravines or creeks.

And they are more expensive than standard fences. The predator-proof structures that the Wisconsin braintrust has designed cost about $8.50 per foot and range from about $29,000 to $67,000 in cost.

DNR and USDA officials investigate potential sites before giving the green light.

“You can’t just throw this kind of money away,” Ruid said.

The owner of each lot is responsible for preparing the site, including removing trees and old fences before the fence is installed.

The solution came as a relief to the Soyrings, who began moving pregnant cows into the 36-acre enclosure in January after a wolf problem.

“The cows were much calmer (in the predator-proof enclosure),” said Justing Soyring. “And the calves weren’t stepped on. We kept them there until they had their calves and then until the calves were big enough.”

But it’s only a partial solution. The 36-acre enclosure can only hold a fraction of their herd.

About 900 hectares of other pastures on their farm have standard fencing and are susceptible to depredation.

On July 14, they even lost a 200-pound calf to wolves that had recently been removed from the predator-proof enclosure, Jim Soyring said.

Wildlife and technology have changed over the years. But the family that has farmed this land for more than a century has no plans to stop.

“This (predator-resistant) fence is definitely helpful,” Soyring said. “We hope to see more innovations to help us and other ranchers keep their livestock safe.”

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