Across the Western United States, areas grazed by cattle herds are shared with many different species of wildlife, including populations of recovering large carnivores like the gray wolf (Canis lupus). Though research has assessed the contribution of numerous parameters to the likelihood that wolves will kill or injure livestock, it is unclear how the health of cattle on multi-use landscapes is affected by the presence of wolves outside of specific predation events. This project aims to better understand the role that different habitat types and features, along with the proximity of wolves and other wild species, play in shifting behavioral and health patterns in cattle over the course of the crucial summer grazing season.
In the summers of 2024 and 2025, GPS-accelerometer collars were placed on 32 pasture-raised cattle, and on-site focal follows were conducted on those cattle. Using the focal follows to ground-truth the accelerometer data, a predictive machine learning model is now being developed that will be capable of identifying individual cattle behaviors (grazing, resting, vigilance) via accelerometer data outputs. In addition, 22 camera traps were deployed across the pastures where these herds grazed to assess interactions with wildlife. By integrating information on cattle behavior with camera trap images of wildlife, wolf GPS collar data (from Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, WDFW), and remotely sensed environmental covariates, this project will begin the process of disentangling the complex, multifaceted relationships between cattle, wolves, and their environment.
This research began in Klickitat County; unfortunately, during this study period, the male wolf of the sole pack in this county was poached, so there are currently no established wolf packs in the original study area. However, relationships built through participation in the Washington Wolf Advisory Group have led to a relatively smooth transition of research to southeastern Washington, where six wolf packs currently overlap with many cattle across a relatively compact area. Here, efforts will continue to deploy accelerometer collars, camera traps, and a new technology: CERES GPS solar-powered ear tags, a low-cost device that transmits the location of each cow directly to a cell phone at regular intervals via satellite. Tags also send alerts if a cow has not moved (possibly injured or dead), is moving slowly (injured or ill), or is moving faster than normal (stolen or being chased). Aside from providing valuable research data, these updates can be hugely beneficial to the project’s partner livestock producers, who can use them to easily find and quickly attend to their cattle, potentially limiting occurrences of livestock predation and any ensuing lethal removal of carnivores that might follow these events.
In addition to its contribution to the scientific community, this work will inform livestock husbandry and management practices by uncovering conditions that generate high stress responses from cattle and should be avoided, as well as those where cattle exhibit a low stress response and are likely more comfortable grazing. Implementation of these findings would aid human-wildlife coexistence efforts and reduce overall stress levels in cattle herds, leading to healthier cattle and an increased sense of safety for livestock owners. This research has gained the interest of both ranchers and WDFW for its applicability to cattle welfare, ranching livelihoods, and wolf conservation. ($17,000)