How much of a threat are predators to livestock?

[ShadowHunter]

I am wondering, how much of a problem are natural predators in livestock management? Like is it easy to keep farm animals protected against wild animals like foxes / wolves / etc and is it considered to be a common problem? Is the problem as easy to solve as just simply putting fences all around a farm?

Is there currently any methods or technology that is an effective countermeasure against livestock predators?

 

[Smarty Plants]

Hey, I noticed it's your first post. Welcome to the forum! To answer your question, it really depends on the livestock itself and where you live. For instance, chickens have more predators than pigs. And the young always have more predators than the adults. I've never seen a wolf, except on television, but it's important that I keep mink out of the hen house. There're all sorts of control methods that work, like guardian animals, electrical fencing, cameras, sirens, and such.

 

[ShadowHunter]

Thanks for responding! And I see, so chicken is one of the most vulnerable farm animals? Are they hard to protect?

Ah I see, so those are the common techniques to protect livestock. Are those methods or combination of methods effective enough to the point where nearby predators are considered to be a non-problem? Or are predator breaches considered to be a common event?

I see you mentioned cameras and sirens, are the cameras connected to an automatic notification system? I am assuming there are sirens that automatically respond when there is a potential predator near by (like motion sensing or something)? Those are one of the more effective control methods, right? Sorry for asking all of these questions.

 

[RichZ]

I am wondering, how much of a problem are natural predators in livestock management? Like is it easy to keep farm animals protected against wild animals like foxes / wolves / etc and is it considered to be a common problem? Is the problem as easy to solve as just simply putting fences all around a farm?

Is there currently any methods or technology that is an effective countermeasure against livestock predators?

It depends on where you live. Different areas have different perdators. I live in upstate New York, and we have coyotes, wolves, bears and foxes. I never had any predation problems with any of them, but I used to loose a lot of chickens to a neighbor's dog. to keep my goats and sheep safe, I kept guard animals with them. In my case, I used llamas as guard animals. They were very good guard animals and they got along well with my goats and sheep.

 

[The Back 40]

A lot of people use barbed wire fencing to keep their cows in, and I imagine it would work for most other animals.

Welcome aboard!