In what may be the first incident of its kind in the state, ravens have attacked sheep and lambs in northern Michigan.

The attacks at Spit in the Wind Farm, about 7 miles outside Alpena and 12 miles from Lake Huron, are disturbing because the birds are known to learn from each other and their predation could spread.

Jim and Claudia Chapman have run the 80-acre farm in the northeast corner of the state for the last 36 years, lately with a flock of 90 to 100 Polypay sheep.

Earlier this year, the Michigan Sheep Producer Association named the Chapmans the Commercial Producers of the Year. Still, the aerial predators, which can weigh over 4 pounds, have made the couple rethink their operation.

“We’d run sheep for a long time, and we never had a coyote problem,” Jim Chapman says. “We would hear them barking on a nightly basis. For years we heard them. Then, a couple of years ago, we had a coyote problem. One summer, we had a couple of attacks, and we lost at least six ewes and a number of lambs.”

The coyotes stopped attacking just as suddenly, but now there’s a new threat from the air.

“Our latest thing, and I can show you one today, is ravens,” he says. “I don’t really know if the lamb dies first. We’ve had ravens inside the barn. They fly in the open door. They come in, and we find lamb and ewes with their eyes picked out.”

Jim Chapman, 72, says he doesn’t have photos of the attacked sheep. “Just in my head,” he says. “It was pretty gross; the eyes are always pecked out.

“We had three or four lambs that had their eyes pecked and stomachs had been opened. These were inside the barn and one outside in the pasture. The ones in the barn were newborns. Whether they were alive at birth, I don't really know. They were dead when I found them.

The lamb outside was a couple days old and was alive the night before, he says. “I found it near where I saw it last, and it had been torn open by the ravens. A raven was just a few feet from it when I found it,” he explains.

Tim Wilson, Lansing-based USDA Wildlife district supervisor, says he has never had a report of predation from ravens in Michigan.

It was also a surprise to his colleague, district supervisor Tony Aderman in Gaylord, 70 miles west of Alpena.

“I haven’t heard of an attack before,” Aderman says.  “Eagles, but not ravens.”

Ravens are protected under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

“Some people have said they have guard dogs that will run at the ravens,” Jim Chapman says. “We haven’t used guard dogs until now, but it is a consideration.”

Claudia Chapman says ravens are pretty smart birds. “I think if one is dead and they see it, they may not hang around,” she says.

Authorities in neighboring Ontario say ravens seem to not recognize livestock as food until they first taste it. They say the birds are too smart to be deterred by the presence of livestock guardian animals.

Smart birds
An Alberta Lamb Producers report written by sheep specialist Anita O’Brien says ravens are among the smartest birds, with an amazing ability to learn, making them a significant predator threat.

“Most often ravens concentrate their attacks on newborn lambs, tearing out eyes and tongue,” her report says.

“In some instances, they have been known to attack larger, healthy lambs, usually around the head — pecking eyes or puncturing the skull.”

There is limited research on raven predation on livestock or what methods may be effective to manage it.

“Because of the raven’s amazing learning ability, prompt action when predation first begins is strongly recommended by wildlife biologists,” the report says.

The USDA Wildlife Services provides expertise to help resolve wildlife conflicts. They can assess a situation and provide recommendations of short-term measures to provide relief from bird damage and long-term measures to help eliminate or significantly reduce the threat.

But if this doesn’t solve the problem, farmers can apply to Wildlife Services for a depredation permit.

Pest control and other contractors may assist farmers in completing an application, as well as conducting the work, but may not apply for the permit.

The farmer describes the species and numbers being requested to be killed and the method to be used. The permit lists the species and numbers of birds that can be culled and how this will be done. The killed birds have to be handed to Wildlife Services.

The apparent first attack by ravens in Michigan comes as raven predation on lambs in Scotland this season became so serious —flocks of 50 to 100 lambs were killed — the Scottish Natural Heritage is granting licenses to allow bird numbers to be reduced.

The National Sheep Association says licenses should also be readily available in other parts of the United Kingdom affected by a massive increase in raven numbers due to the bird’s protected status.

Phil Stocker, NSA chief executive, says with lambing finished across the U.K., NSA has received reports of very high losses to ravens this year.

“Ravens target lambs in vulnerable moments, even striking the very moment they are born, and the loss of a tongue or an eye is a terrible way for these young animals to die,” he says.

In Michigan, the Chapmans market their lambs for their meat. “We’ve had a good crop of lambs this year,” says Jim Chapman, who really likes the Polypay. “We have some nice lambs. I would like to have a good lambing percentage,” he says. “A lambing percentage from birth to sale of 150% to 170% would be great as far as I am concerned. That is what I shoot for.”

The lambs will range from 70 to 90 pounds, when they are sold in November.

This year the Chapmans lambed out 70 ewes and produced 101 live lambs for a 144% result. What the percentage will be when the ravens are finished is another matter.

Harman writes from Brighton, Mich.