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Two ranchers who lost livestock to wolf attacks in Grand County will receive nearly $350,000 in compensation for losses reported starting a year ago after the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission unanimously approved the payment during its monthly meeting Wednesday. 

Farrell Livestock will receive $287,407.63 for sheep and cattle losses and Bruchez and Sons will receive $56,008 for cattle losses.

“The request for payment on this is not a bonus for anybody,” commission chair Dallas May said. “It’s simply trying to recover some of the costs that have been lost, and actually should have been to these producers last fall.” 

The payment to Farrell is for both the direct loss of 15 animals agency officials confirmed killed by wolves during the spring of 2024 and for animals indirectly impacted by wolves — either missing sheep, calves with reduced weights after they were weaned, and lower-than-average pregnancy rates. Another $112,000 claim for missing cattle on the Farrell ranch is being negotiated, regional wildlife manager Travis Black told the commission.

The commission’s decision comes after Farrell and other ranchers hit CPW with a bill for $582,000 for wolf kills and related impacts on cattle and sheep in the first year of reintroduction. 

“We are today contemplating whether this is going to happen, and it has a huge impact on the people that are affected,” May said before the vote. “We have spent the last five years trying to get to a point where producers, wolves, wolf advocates and the general public could get to a good place where we could work together. This is one of the big tests of, can we do that?”

The payment claims were on the commission’s , where large numbers of items are grouped and passed in a single vote, and so received only brief discussion before the members voted unanimously to approve.

In addition to the payments to Farrell and Bruchez, the panel also approved $65,523 to James Craig Bair Ranch near Glenwood Springs for losses of sheep to bear and $41,786 to PRR Operations for alfalfa and grass lost to elk. Two small claims were denied.

The commission briefly discussed the claims before voting. 

Rich Reading, who represents the public-at-large on the commission, said it was important for the public to know about the breakdown of the bills “because it’s a lot of money and we’re in a budget crisis.”&�Բ�����;

But May said, “with all due respect, all of this was put into place for a reason. And was pivotal in making sure we had these multipliers in place. Because in many places the country is so rugged that once there is a depredation, you may not find the missing animals. I mean, you just may not be able to find them. That’s the cold, hard reality.”&�Բ�����;

As far as the pregnancy rates and the loss in weight of weaned calves, May said he knew “for a fact that one event on a ranch affects the entire ranch. 

“So for example, if there were pastures that were no longer accessible to a rancher, and they have to then take cattle that would be in those pastures and put them on top of others where they normally wouldn’t manage for those cattle be in those pastures. It absolutely causes a weight loss because you don’t have the habitat, you don’t have the landscape and you just don’t have the means to do it.”&�Բ�����;

“It is a net drain on your program if you can’t use your entire ranch,” he added. “I know that well, because of what happened to us in a fire.”&�Բ�����;

And he said he was surprised by the numbers in the claim, which he expected to be higher. If the calves on the list had been valued today, he said, “in our regional cattle market, they would have brought 25% more than they’re claimed for in this rate.

“So that’s my take on how this has gone. I know there’s been a lot of criticism, but I think people have to understand what this does to an operation.”&�Բ�����;

Tai Jacober, a Pitkin County producer who represents ranchers on the commission, apologized for missing the meeting and having to cast his vote remotely. 

“But I have 20, 30 calves being born per day right now and not very much help. So I decided to stay home, particularly given the matter of the wolves,” he said.

How ranchers are compensated for livestock and working dogs lost to wolves has been a point of fierce discussion since before the first group of 10 animals were released in Summit and Grand counties in December 2023, as directed by voters. A second group of 15 wolves was released in Pitkin and Eagle counties in January, along with five members of the pack blamed for predation on the Ferrell ranch that were captured in the fall.

Wildlife biologists say there are now 29 collared wolves in Colorado and at least one uncollared wolf, believed to have migrated from Wyoming, that is . About 30 to 50 wolves is needed to sustain the population.

This is a breaking news story and it will be updated