BAKER CITY HERALD • THuRsDAY, MAY 26, 2022 A5
LOCAL & STATE
Ranchers turn to bigger dogs to protect livestock
BY KRISTIAN FODEN-VENCIL
Oregon Public Broadcasting
BAKER CITY — For the last
few weeks, rancher Kim Kerns
has been living in a 1970s
trailer, up on a high meadow,
with 550 sheep as they fatten
up on spring grass.
Her family has used live-
stock protection dogs up here
since the 1980s when she first
got a Maremma guard dog
from the U.S. Department of
Agriculture.
But that was before wolves
returned.
“We’ve actually kind of
changed the type and size of
dog we use,” she said. “We’re
using a bigger and more ag-
gressive guard dog now than
we did in the ’80s and even
the ’90s.”
Now, her dogs are a mix of
Akbash, Kangal and Anato-
lian, three massive, ancient
breeds out of Turkey. All of
them can be 100 pounds or
more and have a bite pres-
sure of 740 pounds per square
inch. Statistics vary, but a
wolf ’s bite force is between
400 psi and 1,500 psi.
Kerns runs eight guard dogs
at a cost of $500 a month in
feed. But she said the animals
pay their ways by reducing the
labor of controlling sheep and
reducing predator kills.
Over the last couple of de-
cades, Oregon and much of the
West has been conducting an
enormous ecological exper-
iment by allowing wolves to
once more roam the landscape.
For ranchers, wolves are an-
other predator to guard against.
But unlike coyotes, bears, bob-
cats or mountain lions, wolves
hunt in packs and can be very
persistent. They’re also smart.
So they learn quickly that a
sound cannon, a bunch of
flags, or even gunfire into the
air aren’t a real danger. And
they return.
Kerns remembers a two-
week period last year when
wolves were picking off her
sheep, one by one. Even her
dogs weren’t a match.
“We weren’t getting any
sleep, the guard dogs weren’t
getting any sleep, everybody
was run ragged,” she said.
“And it was terrifying. Like it
was flat scary.”
She tried everything, from
spotlights and electrical fences
at night, but the wolves kept
coming.
“Finally we just decided that
we couldn’t take it anymore.
We moved the sheep a couple
of miles,” she said. “It seemed
to be outside of where the
wolves were.”
Now, Kerns relies on the
dogs to alert her to wolves.
They can smell or see a wolf
well before she can, and they
start to bark and get agitated.
Kerns surrounds her sheep
with a sturdy electric fence at
night or moves them to an-
other pasture. She is permitted
to shoot a wolf if it’s actively
attacking. But since they’re
federally protected, she needs
Kristian Foden-Vencil/Oregon Public Broadcasting
Rancher Shirley Shold breeds Akbash Kangal dogs for ranchers who want bigger livestock protection animals, now that wolves are in East-
ern Oregon.
Kristian Foden-Vencil/Oregon Public Broadcasting
One of Kim Kerns’ favorite livestock protection dogs, Opal, places herself firmly between the photographer and the herd.
really good proof. Also, shoot-
ing a wolf in a herd would just
as likely result in the death of
a sheep.
The Oregon Department
of Agriculture has a compen-
sation program to reimburse
ranchers. But Kerns said it
pays little and the loss of just
one ewe can cause real dam-
age, even though it might only
fetch $200 at market.
“There are some 5- or
6-year-old ewes in there that
know every single camp we
go to. Every single waterhole,”
Kerns said. “That ewe is really
irreplaceable in my flock.”
Kerns thinks the compen-
sation program just gives the
Kristian Foden-Vencil/Oregon Public Broadcasting
public permission to turn a
Shirley Shold greets her livestock protection dogs out on her ranch just east of Baker City.
blind eye to the problem.
would be better for everyone,
Another rancher in the
she’d like a quicker response
Unlike many ranchers,
and the packs, if they were
Baker City area, Shirley
from the government when
Kerns doesn’t want to see
spread out more.”
Shold, agrees: “I think it
she sends in a kill request.
wolves eliminated again. But
She started breeding dogs
that are suitable for herds af-
ter finding freshly killed calves
and lambs.
“Seeing the loss of a new-
born life was very hard,” said
Shold, who moved from Port-
land 12 years ago.
“So I started thinking, we’ve
got to do something differ-
ent. And I was talking to a fel-
low rancher and she said, ‘If
you’ve got wolves, you want
Kangal dogs.’”
So Shold got a Kangal and
Akbash pair and now breeds
them for other ranchers at
about $800 a head.
How good the dogs turn out
to be depends largely on their
nature, said Shold. Some dogs
are more nurturing and remain
in the middle of their herds.
While other dogs become pe-
rimeter dogs, scouting outside
the herd for predators.
Watching them is like
watching a sheep dog trial. Ex-
cept that instead of a human
issuing orders, these dogs fol-
low their inner natures.
But many traditional ranch-
ers aren’t convinced the dogs
can keep wolves away and,
they point out, the dogs are ex-
pensive to feed.
But Shold thinks attitudes
are changing as more wolves
appear and ranchers see oth-
ers in the business using large
dogs to protect their livestock.
Shold’s ranch can be seen
from the road.
“Everybody started paying
attention,” she said. “People
really started … watching the
dogs because they can ob-
serve them from the highway,
and I know it’s making an im-
pact. They’re seeing that this
can help.”
The dogs’ ability to man-
age a sheep herd is well recog-
nized. But Shold wants to in-
tegrate them into cattle herds
as well.
Others aren’t so sure. They
point out that cows don’t
herd together like sheep. That
means the dogs have to pa-
trol much larger areas. But on
Shold’s ranch, the cattle do
seem tolerant of the dogs.
Brian Ratliff, with the Ore-
gon Department of Fish and
Wildlife, said some ranchers
are seeing success with the
large dog breeds.
“Livestock protection dogs
will work or have some notice-
able benefits on certain opera-
tions. So, sheep and goats. Also
in confined areas, smaller pas-
tures, with cattle,” he said.
But it’s not about having the
dogs fight the wolves.
“The most important thing I
think that livestock protection
dogs do … is they alert the
producer to what’s going on,”
he said.
Back on the slopes of Kim
Kerns’ ranch, she watches her
dogs move the herd to greener
pastures. She said yes, the dogs
are useful: ”They’re another
tool in the tool box.”
But they’re not a silver bul-
let.
Oregon warns recipients of food boxes about recall of Jif peanut butter
The recall applies to prod-
the fifth to seventh position.
ucts with lot codes 1274425 – This information is printed on
2140425, with the digits 425 in the back label of the jar.
East Oregonian
PORTLAND — Oregon
Health Authority is warning
the people of Oregon to be on
the lookout for Jif brand pea-
nut butter that may be con-
taminated with salmonella
bacteria.
J.M. Smucker Co., the parent
company for the peanut butter
brand, issued a voluntary re-
call Friday, May 20. The Food
and Drug Administration, the
U.S. Centers for Disease Con-
trol and Prevention and local
partners are investigating this
outbreak.
The recalled peanut butter
was distributed in retail stores
and other outlets throughout
the country. It includes creamy,
crunchy and natural varieties.
Jif peanut butter was in-
cluded in food boxes distrib-
uted through OHA’s food box
program. OHA has investi-
gated further and determined
the recall lot does include the
Jif peanut butter that was dis-
tributed in the food boxes. This
only impacts the peanut butter
product inside the food box,
FEEL THE SPEED,
EVEN AT PEAK TIMES.
Food and Drug Administration/Contributed Photo
A recall is underway for Jif peanut butter due to possible contamination of salmonella bacteria. J.M.
Smucker Co., the parent company of Jif, issued a recall Friday, May 20, 2022. The recall applies to products
with lot codes 1274425 – 2140425, with the digits 425 in the fifth to seventh position.
which can be exchanged for a
replacement or refunded.
Starting May 24, staff with
the Oregon Health Authority
began visiting all OHA food
hubs and inspecting respec-
tive food boxes to substitute
any recall product for new.
This work will require the re-
mainder of this week to ac-
complish.
“All warehoused Jif products
that are waiting to be distrib-
uted have been thoroughly in-
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