Become a Grassland Ambassador

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Prairie Dogs are not carriers of the Plague, fleas are;  and fleas are found everywhere. Your local wildlife have the same fleas a prairie dog would.  In fact, Prairie Dogs are so susceptable to dying of the plague, the entire colony can be wiped out within just a few days (yet another reason they are threatened).  So while yes, prairie dogs can get the plague, they won't be coming up to you and spreading it.  So long as you don't try to pet them (we don't recommend that anyway) and just let them live in peace on their island, you'll be fine.  

This really is a myth.. passed down from the days of cattle stampedes and roaming on the vast open prairie.  Nowadays cattle aren't running at full speed on your property and cattle don't hurt themselves in prairie dog holes and tunnels when just milling about.  Same with horses, who can graze with the prairie dogs risk free on a pasture.  The USDA agrees this 'break their leg' mythos is simply not true. 

This happens... and the USDA has found that a typical large prairie dog colony of 300 will eat the grass of about 1 cow a year.  Which is why we want to help with this and pay you the rent to help you buy that grass back if needed.  Also, something to consider, the grass nutrients of the grazed area of prairie dogs is actually more nutrient dense than the longer grasses.  So some grass eaters purposely graze within the colony to get the higher nutrient short grass.  Studies have shown that having a prairie dog colony on your ranch with cattle only reduces down the grass 7% overall, which isn't a lot if you think about it.

Unfortunately, this is due from a century of villifying these foundational critters as a 'nuisance rodent'  Back then, people didn't care about keystone species or worry about taking all the food from the higher wildlife. (they killed them too).  So most people still think of prairie dogs this way, which is a shame.  Once people understand how important prairie dogs, and how truly rare they are, we hope attitudes change, and we hope to work with your neighbors too, so send them to us and let's get them getting rent checks as well! 

No!  This is the greatest myth out there.  The US Fish and Wildlife Service has determined that there is just 1% of the habitat left for prairie dogs from what they had before humans.  Mostly developers, pushing them further out of cities and town through killing, and farmers who don't want to share their property with native grasslands.  If you are one of the few and lucky individuals to have the 'problem' of a prairie dog colony on your land, please know you are a steward of a very misunderstood prey animal. 

It depends on how you feel about the circle of life and biodiversity.  Many landowners who allow a colony on their acreage do not have the colony grow for decades. They have a healthy predator population who keeps the dogs in check. Its a careful balance that ranchers deal with daily.  If you shoot all the coyote and foxes, the prairie dogs may try to grow their colony.  So if you want to keep them in their island, we suggest seeing the eagles, hawks, foxes, coyotes, bobcats as tools, not enemies.  These predators are naturally made to eat prairie dogs first and will help keep their population down. 

Many Cattlemen are discovering that they were too quick to kill predators, and then the prey (hare, prairie dogs, mice, voles) would eat the grass and compete for grazing frood.  So they are rethinking their attitudes to our predators as a helpful balance to keep the prey in check.  

There are other passive techniques to help keep your colony on its island as well.  Having a 4 ft wall of tall grasses between the island and your livestock will help because colonies want a clear line of sight, so avoid bushes, tall grasses, etc.  There is also underground and barrier fencing you can use if you want to help avoid spread.  We think the best way to reign them in is to welcome the predators back.