When a gray wolf comes into view on Jack Lavers’ Kern County, Calif., ranch, the veteran cattleman doesn’t need binoculars to know what he’s seeing.
“It is a different experience to witness one firsthand up close,” Lavers says. “To be honest, it gives you the chills. They don’t move like a normal dog or a coyote, and they’re so much larger. It is a little bit intimidating.”
For Lavers, such encounters confirm what other California ranchers have warned: wolves are no longer confined to the northern reaches of the state, and their growing presence is bringing mounting pressure on cattle operations. Now, new research from the University of California, Davis, provides hard data to support those concerns.
Cattle Outpace Deer as Wolf Prey
In an ongoing analysis of wolf scat collected across California, UC Davis researchers found cattle DNA in 72% of samples, indicating cattle have become a primary food source for wolves. By comparison, mule deer — the wolves’ primary natural prey in California — appeared in just 45% of samples, while small mammals appeared in 51%.
DNA-based diet research from two Northern California wolf packs shows cattle rival mule deer as a primary prey source — adding hard data to what ranchers have been reporting for years. https://t.co/P4mryntjJC
— Farm Journal (@FarmJournal) July 15, 2026
The findings confirm what some ranchers predicted would occur, according to Lavers.
“It’s something we in the beef industry have known from the very beginning was going to happen,” he told AgriTalk Host Chip Flory during a recent Farmer Forum segment.
Lavers, whose family has raised cattle near Glennville, Calif., since 1858, says the wolf expansion has now reached ranches in his area and continues moving south.
“They are moving, because there is no predator and there is no pressure on them,” Lavers says. “This is a growing concern, and it’s something that needs to continue to be addressed.”
To put wolf depredation into perspective with overall U.S. cattle mortality, the USDA-NASS notes that predators of all kinds (including coyotes, domestic dogs, cougars, and bears) account for less than 2% to 3% of all cattle and calf deaths.
Beyond Livestock Losses
What concerns Lavers most extends beyond direct livestock losses. He says wolves are increasingly appearing in unexpected places, including highly populated areas.
“In northern California, they are killing elk and deer in people’s backyards,” he says. “People come home and there is blood splatter on their back doors and garage doors from an elk killed in their driveway. These aren’t remote locations. These are towns with 1,500 to 5,000 people.”
Reports have even surfaced of wolves moving through town centers.
“When you see a pack of wolves run through the parking lot of a bank, that is out of hand,” Lavers told Flory. “The concern becomes, ‘It might kill somebody in a rural town, or even on the outskirts of these cities where these wolves are starting to come in.’”
The issue is beginning to reach state policymakers in Sacramento, where Lavers says officials are “starting to get a little bit alarmed and trying to figure out what they’re going to do.”
A Familiar Challenge for Other States
While the UC Davis findings are new for California, the challenges are familiar to ranchers elsewhere. Gray wolves have reestablished populations across much of the Upper Midwest, Northern Rockies and Pacific Northwest, where livestock producers have spent years balancing predator recovery with protecting cattle herds.
Minnesota has the largest wolf population in the lower 48 states, with an estimated 2,700 to 2,900 wolves across roughly 500 to 600 packs, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Wisconsin reports 1,226 wolves, while Michigan has 762.
States like Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio do not have breeding wolf populations. While young, lone wolves occasionally wander into these states from the north looking for territory, they remain rare, transient visitors.
Financial Support But Not Solutions
USDA’s Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP) provides compensation to producers who lose livestock to wolves and other predators. The program has become an important financial safety net for ranchers in states with established wolf populations and is expected to play an increasingly important role in California as wolf numbers grow.
Eligible producers currently receive 75% of an animal’s fair market value following a confirmed loss, though USDA has announced plans to increase reimbursement to 100%.
“If that cow is bred, you also receive coverage for the calf she was carrying,” Lavers notes.
While ranchers welcome the additional financial assistance, Lavers says reimbursement does little to address the underlying issue.
“That’s helpful, but it doesn’t address the root problem,” he says. “These wolves are not afraid of us. They’re going to continue to kill cattle because they’re an easy target, and we can’t do anything about it as stewards of the land.”
Nonlethal Strategies Show Mixed Results
California is also borrowing management strategies already used in other wolf states. A new Range Riders Program — a collaboration between the California Wolf Center and Northern California ranchers — is the first of its kind in the state. Similar programs have been used in parts of Idaho, Montana, Washington and Oregon, where riders provide a regular human presence intended to discourage wolves from approaching livestock.
“Range riding has proven to be one of the most successful proactive nonlethal practices to reduce conflict between wild wolves and livestock,” says Karin Vardaman, director of wolf recovery at the California Wolf Center, in a prepared statement.
Even with those efforts, Lavers believes management options remain severely limited. He says that even if wolves are removed from the federal endangered species list, California’s own endangered species protections would continue to restrict management tools available to ranchers.
Unlikely Allies Emerge
As encounters between wolves and cattle become more common, Lavers says the conversation is drawing support from unexpected sources.
“In politics you always have strange bedfellows,” he says. “We’re working very closely right now with Defenders of Wildlife, and they’re saying, ‘Hey, it’s getting out of control.’”
According to Defenders of Wildlife, at least 70 wolves now live throughout California. Those animals make up 10 active packs, along with individuals in three other designated areas of wolf activity and several known dispersing wolves.
Lavers points to a female wolf repeatedly documented this winter and spring in the greater Los Angeles area. He also says a growing population of gray wolves is expanding around Tulare, evidence that the predator’s range continues to push into new territory.
The Path Forward
For Lavers, California is becoming the latest chapter in a conversation livestock producers have been having for decades — that recovering wolf populations bring new challenges for protecting livestock while maintaining viable cattle operations.
The UC Davis research provides quantifiable evidence of what ranchers have observed firsthand, Lavers contends: wolves have adapted to target cattle as a preferred food source, and current management strategies aren’t equipped to address the growing conflict.
“If there aren’t tools available to help us manage this,” Lavers says, “it’s going to continue to happen and get worse.”
Hear more of Lavers’ thoughts on the wolf issue in California on AgriTalk, available at the link below:
