Farmers in Illinois and Missouri have experienced losses due to bird attacks
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
Aerial predators are killing calves in some American states.
Farmers in Illinois and Indiana have lost cattle because of attacks from black vultures.
Gary Tretter, a producer from Murphysboro, Ill., has lost “six to seven calves, call them (US)$2,000 a head, when they get sold, that’s a lot of money, he told WSIL yesterday.
The birds appear to work in pairs or groups.
One bird distracts the young cow while the others attack the calves with their claws and beaks. In some cases, the vultures even attack a young cow as it is giving birth.
The birds may also prey on piglets, lambs and other smaller animals.
Farmers do not have many options when it comes to protecting their livestock.
Black vultures are protected under the 1918 Migratory Bird Act¸ meaning a farmer needs to apply for an annual permit if he or she wants to kill any of the birds.
The permits cost $100 and only last from April 1 to March 31 the following year. Producers are required to provide proof of black vulture damage.
The application process can be lengthy, leaving some farmers to protect their animals without a permit.
“I know people have been taking things into their own hands,” Rollin Bach, a producer from Crawford County, Ind., told the Indianapolis Star on Friday. “We want to protect farmers from prosecution.”
“There are people trying to protect their livestock, but there’s no legal way of doing so without spending money.”
Black vultures killed one of Bach’s cows and a calf.
Lawmakers are trying to give farmers the authority to protect their livestock without a permit.
Trey Hollingsworth, the U.S. Representative for Indiana’s ninth congressional district, introduced an amendment to the Farm Bill about the black vulture incidents.
The amendment would authorize the “takings of black vultures otherwise prohibited by Federal law to prevent such vultures from taking livestock during the calving season.”
Producers can also use nonlethal methods to keep black vultures at bay.
Hanging an effigy of a black vulture upside down with its wings spread appears to be an effective way to ward off the predators.
So effective that the Jackson County Farm Bureau in Murphysboro, Ill. is hosting a free seminar on July 25 to help farmers make their own fake black vultures to hang from trees.
“It didn’t look very hard to make,” Teresa Steckler, a beef specialist from the University of Illinois, told WSIL yesterday. “And that is probably one of the best ways to keep the vultures away from your farm if you notice you’re having a problem.”
Other options include buying a cattle dog, cutting down dead trees, and hanging decoys of owls and hawks.
Farms.com has reached out to cattlemen’s associations and the Jackson County Farm Bureau for more information.
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