Predators, weather kill nearly 23,000 sheep and lambs in 2011

In the next couple months, three things are a given for Montana sheep ranches: shears will buzz and fleece will fly, ewes will have their lambs, and then weather and coyotes will take their toll. Spring is when sheep are most vulnerable, both because their young are easy pickings for predators and because their shorn coats make them vulnerable to Montana's sometimes-deadly cold. In dollars, the losses can be significant. In 2011, sheep ranchers lost 22,900 animals to bad weather and coyotes, according the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service. NASS released the numbers late last week. Total deaths were 48,000, a $7 million loss, which includes deaths by other predators and nonpredator-related deaths from illness and infection. The number of animals was the same as the previous year's, but the cash loss was 38 percent higher, reflecting the record high prices for lambs and wool in 2011. Weather killed 13,100 animals...more