Thank you to everybody for your kind and thoughtful responses! Sorry
I haven't responded sooner. As you can imagine, I am exhausted from
the stress and the widespread uncertainties of this situation (as
Carol Elkins mentioned in a private e-mail, "You must feel like you
are under siege"). But I am making headway, and it really helps to
get such helpful advice from those who have been raising sheep for a long time.
By the way, I should have mentioned, these are not newborn
lambs. They are between 3 and 4 months old, and are 30 - 40 pounds
in weight. They have been weaned for about 2 - 3 weeks, and are with
a group of adult ewes (not their mothers). So in my opinion, they
are at a fairly naive and vulnerable stage in their lives. And if
attacked, chances are fairly good that those adult ewes will not help them.
As some of you have mentioned, the signs seem to point to
cougar. However, the puzzling thing is that 2 are missing at a
time. That might indicate human rustling. But if there is more than
one cougar working together, it is possible that more than one lamb
could have been carried off in the same night.
Anyhow, I have been putting up my ewes and lambs at night, into a
well-lit enclosure between the barn and the house, well away from the
perimeter fence. Like Mike Smith indicated, it is somewhat of a
hassle to gather the stock every night, but it is worth it for the
time being. And I'm doing a count every night at the gather point,
and every morning before letting them out.
Also, yesterday I brought home two Pyrenees pups, from a breeder who
raises them with sheep as guardian dogs. They will be introduced to
the stock gradually as they mature. And tomorrow I am going to
receive an adult male Anatolian working guardian dog that is good
with lambs as well as adults. I will put him right to work in the
lamb area. So I am very happy about both of these situations.
Additionally, my neighbor and sheep mentor has made arrangements for
a hunter/tracker to bring over and put up two hunting cameras (the
infrared type, I think) to monitor the woods side of my property just
outside my back fence line.
The other things that have been suggested (motion detectors, wireless
alarms, etc.) are also excellent ideas and I will also begin putting
these into the plan as well. It has also been suggested that I
should put up a few "warning -- guard dog" signs to hopefully deter
any two-legged rustlers.
I share the opinion of several of you, that (unless this is a human
rustling situation), it is most likely a cougar that is carrying off
these large lambs without a trace.
Hopefully this will put an end to the predation or rustling,
whichever it turns out to be!
Thank you all again. This is a wonderful and helpful listserve!
Mary Swindell
At 06:17 AM 8/17/2011, you wrote:
I thought of a cougar when I first read this post. Only animal able
to jump the fence and carry off a lamb. In southern OK, the
wildlife let cougars loose to control the deer population. They
will disavow any knowledge of this, but when they did this near our
neighbor, the ones that let it out told my Tenant's mother that she
should keep the grand kids close to the house because they let out a
cougar to control the deer.
This is why I like traps. You can eventually determine what is
getting your animals. If you contact Animal damage control, then
you have a record with the govt that you were losing
livestock. Then if you find the culprit, use the 3S
method. Shoot, Shovel, & Shut Up.
Cecil in OKla
----- Original Message ----- From: <des...@tracywessel.com>
To: <blackbelly@lists.blackbellysheep.info>
Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2011 5:04 PM
Subject: Re: [Blackbelly] missing sheep
In my experience, disappearance like that is usually cougar. Though I've
had this happen with ducks via coyote. The lambs I lost to cougar were
rarely found, and if so, were buried. Only wildlife that has damaged my
fencing is bears. The others just hop over or under.
Tracy Wessel
www.intentionhill.com
Belgian Shepherds and Blackbelly Sheep
Home of the Basquelaine 'A' of Intention Hill Litter
Hi folks,
For the first time in all the years I've been raising sheep, I've had
lambs disappearing without a trace. ?I lost 2 lambs on 08/07/11
and I lost 2
more lambs Saturday night 08/13/11. ?I have excellent fence (5-foot tall,
tightly woven, and electrified). ?There is no evidence anywhere. ?No bent
fencing, no holes, no hair, no blood, nothing. ?I am next to a
deep woods in
southern Illinois. ?I guess whatever is taking my lambs would have to jump
over the fence and back out with a lamb in its mouth.
_______________________________________________
This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list
Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
_______________________________________________
This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list
Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
_______________________________________________
This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list
Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
