Notice of Hearing on the Application to Use Sodium Fluoroacetate ...

pric2s an avsrags r3ncher in icano could not nain;ain ;he f?nc?s he
has, much less go out and build new 'enc2s. Cr. Gates operats z
inall jheep ranch or fa* and indicated that he has incurrd I oss2s
for the past three years.
158. F,4S has field tzsxed alertric fencf ng 2s a aeins <strong>of</strong> predazor c2nr,rci
in North Oakota and Kansas. In :he ?lorth Dakota tests, new fences
were csnscructed usjng a1 tsrnazively char~ed and grounded ~ires.
Coyote predation was not defzrred dn-~il 12 wires !were uszd zr-,d ;he
height o i the fence was raised to I68 cn, the conTigurztion 1ss2nxial ly
bein? as -in :he fmce xstsd by 2r. Gates. Ail <strong>of</strong> chess tzsts x~ere
in smai 1 enclosures, the largest being 3.7 3cr2s in 5iz~. In the
Kansas tst~, electric wi res werz i ns~al: ed on conv2nxionai woven
and barbed wi r~ sheep fences. The addi ci on <strong>of</strong> four and ii ve cnarged
ivires eifectiveiy detftrred prdation. Again chess ezsts werz an
small enclosures, the largest being 1.2 acres. Haterial costs (1980)
for the 12-wire electric fence were estimated at S1 ,580 per mil?. It
is not clear whether this includes the charger.
753. The FN'S has conducted a survey <strong>of</strong> ranchzrs using electric iznces to
protect pastured sheep from coyotes. Of 37 ranchers interviewed, only
74 seemed to have adequate information to permit a comparison <strong>of</strong>
losses before and after installation <strong>of</strong> the fences. According to
these ranchers, losses to coyotes over a combined total <strong>of</strong> 271 months