To Spain and Back

 

I know, I know.. it has been a very long time since I posted a new post here. I have missed posting articles but sometimes life gets a little busy and priorities need to be made. Hopefully I can get back into writing again, now with winter approaching and having long, dark nights.

Anyhow, this past week I had the wonderful opportunity to learn and share information on wolf damage prevention in Spain. I was invited to attend a workshop on wolf damage prevention methods, there were speakers from across the world so it was wonderful to connect and learn about the challenges others face when managing wolf/livestock conflict. The answers and circumstances are never just simple. The circumstances are complex and a "cure all" solution does not exist. However, learning what researchers and government managers are focusing on is interesting. I hope I managed to contribute to the idea that predation may never be zero, but their are plenty of livestock management tools that can be implemented to at least reduce the amount of conflict occuring.

I felt a bit out of place amoungst all the researchers, wolf biologists and wildlife managers there as I was the only farmer/rancher sharing my side. Later in the week I did have a talk with sheperds and cattle folks and shared some ideas with them. Going into these talks is not about telling them what to do, as each operation and situation is different, all I can share is what we do, what the effects are and if we find these measures help. Sometimes, by knowing what does not work, is equally valuable.

During this conference I had the opportunity to meet with some "old" friends, people whom I have met before and have a similar interets in LGDs or other prevention methods. 

It is always a highlight for me to go and visit livestock operations and just look at how they do things,  see the challnges from their perspective and of course talk cows, sheep and in many cases LGD. I had the opportunity to meet a bunch of Spanish Mastiff dogs, the most common pastoral dog in Spain.  As in all cases, some folks truly had quality dog, others less, some working dogs, some not.  The range in types was big, and I certainly had a clear preferance for the Spannish Mastiff of a certain type and build. 

On the cattle side, we had a wonderful visit with a young rancher with more traditional type limousin and charolais cattle. He was extremely open to sharing information on everything to do with the cattle.  It was particularly interesting to note that some of the cows wore GPS collars, connected to an app on this phone. This to inform him when the naughty cows were either breaking out of the fenced area or were wondering off alone.  

The sheep operation was also interesting, mostly using a merino cross in the sheep. The sheep were night corraled in a barn and let out to graze during the day. They utelised high electric nets and LGD to help discourage wolves.

Jess joined me on this trip and spent her days walking around castles, exploring medieval villages, trying out the local wines and foods. We did a few wolf watching tours, but did not see any live wolves.

Peublo de Sanabria

 However, everywhere we went in this region you could see that wolves were a historic and integral part of these communities. The local pub was named the place of the wolf (Lobo),  photo's of wolves hung in the restaurants, you could find relics of the carlanca ( wolf collars worn by the shepherds LGD to protect against wolf attacks,  bottles of wines named after wolf. One could really see that this region, where the wolf had never been extirpated, was more wolf tolerant than other areas. The Iberian wolf is its own sub-species and different than the wolves found in Italy and other regions.

Picture of an Iberian wolf in a restuarant.

Some of the research presented at the conferance was looking at a multitude of  damage prevention possibilities. We got to learn all about fencing and what is required to deter wolves, we heard about taste aversion research, drones that would yell in human voices at wolves, acoustic research into the wolf howls, a lot about GPS monitoring, ultrasonic devices,  LGDs, emergency help and subsidising helpers for farmers affected by wolf attacks on their livestock, education programs for people and how each region is planning to or is dealing with the wolf. 

Spannish Carlanka, wolf collar for the LGD.

The days were jam packed, Jess and I learnt a few Spannish phraces such as how to order coffie and sweet white wine, how to ask about vaccas (cows) and oveja (sheep) and a few other handy words. The high speed train (250km/hr) was a nice way to travel.  All in all,  a short, intence and interesting trip to Spain.

We did have a few short days in the Netherlands during a layover, which we spent visiting friends, family and of course an angus farm or two but more about that another time.