I wish that submitters would indicate what area of the county they are posting from. It is especially important when one considers a subject like coyotes.
Here in the northeast coyotes are hybridizing with Canadian wolves and they are hunting in groups. What may work in Southern California where the coyotes are just slightly larger than northeastern foxes might not work with a Coy-wolf. That being said, we live in a coyote high count neighborhood where the Coyotes are about the size of German Shepherd dogs. This winter we protected 30 sheep and 24 ducks with a woven wire fence, hot wires at top and bottom and 2 standard donkeys free to patrol the paddock at night. The coyotes left evidence that they scaled the 48" woven wire of an adjacent paddock. And they were seen traversing adjacent paddocks but did not enter our protected night paddock. Some say just the scent of donkeys is enough to keep them away but that is not correct. Some say Standards must be required as to have the size needed. We had an incident near Buffalo NY where a woman's mini donk was attacked by a coyote even as she tried to defend it. A friends 2 minis ran for self preservation and left the sheep to fend for themselves. I have my doubts as to whether a single Donkey would fare well with 2 or more coy-wolves in a field. Last winter the sheep were at a friends farm and she protected them in a barn with 2 great Pyrennes locked in with the sheep. She would still have to go out with a shot gun from time to time. This seemed like an inconvenient method to us. Joanne The Genesee Ewe-ery Scottsville NY _______________________________________________ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
