Coyote-Friendly Wool?

Predator control

While eco-marketing may be on the rise in the cattle and grain industries, many sheep producers are critical of the idea of “predator-friendly” wool.

Dave Tyler, a Montana sheep rancher and director of Predator Friendly Inc., buys wool from a handful of ranchers who say they don’t kill predators and then sells the wool to manufacturers.

Predator-friendly wool brings in as much as $2 as pound, compared to the usual $1 to $1.30.

But Janice Grauberger of the American Sheep Industry Assn. says the idea is not practical.

“We have to kill predators, and there’s resentment in the industry because Predator Friendly portrays the rest of ranchers as bad boys.”

In Montana last year, predators caused $1.8 million in losses to sheep and lambs, according to the state Agricultural Statistics Service.

But Tyler’s partner, Becky Weed, said Predator Friendly can help industry be less dependent on federal subsidies.

Last year, the federal Animal Damage Control agency, which is responsible for controlling predators, spent $36 million to protect livestock.