[Blackbelly] Tired of losing sheep to coyotes
to all, can anyone suggest the best way to protect my sheep from coyotes? i work the late shift and the last two morning when i get home i find a dead sheep. i have field fence as a barrier. spent a few hours thursday making certain no holes or spots the coyotes might squeeze through. i have three donkeys. (useless) -free to a good home. any suggestions is much appreciated. stewart ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
Re: [Blackbelly] Tired of losing sheep to coyotes
On 9/9/2011 4:42 AM, stewart wrote: to all, can anyone suggest the best way to protect my sheep from coyotes? i work the late shift and the last two morning when i get home i find a dead sheep. i have field fence as a barrier. spent a few hours thursday making certain no holes or spots the coyotes might squeeze through. i have three donkeys. (useless) -free to a good home. any suggestions is much appreciated. stewart ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info Do a google search for coyote trapping. There is an excellent book by a fellow up North who traps for a living. Check your perimeter for signs of trails into you place. Think like a coyote when looking for a trail. Imagine you are walking barefoot, and how you would try to walk where the grass would not scratch your toes..I know it sounds nuts, but it works. They will follow any trail or place where the grass is crushed down by traffic. They walk the roads many times. Is there a culvert under your fence. A coyote is also lazy. Is there feed outside that will attract them. A coyote will eat anything. They come around looking for the dog or cat food, and then when that is gone they eat the dog or catGet some leghold traps, and learn how to set them. Call your state agriculture department and ask for Animal damage Control section. Get on the record as having problems and they may set some traps. Sometimes these guys are good, sometimes they are worthless.. The main thing is to get it on record that you have a problem. Then when you catch a neighbor's dog in the trap, you have some defense against being accused of cruelty to animals. It is probably just one coyote. I don't know where you are located, but here in OKlahoma, due to this drought, we have lost all our cats. The coyotes come into the yard at night. I have my sheep running with 2 horses and 2 longhorn cows that hate dogs I don't know if that works or not, or I have just been lucky. I carry a riflle and shotgun in the truck at all times. I keep them sighted in. A .223 w/ scope is excellent if you are far enough from neighbors. If not, a 12Guage with 00 Buckshot (Lead), use the 3 1/2 inch Magnum Loads with a 24 inch Barrel and full choke. This is good to about 75 Yards. Aim In the center of the body mass. If those pellets get under the hide, the coyote will go off and die. If not, he will steer clear of your place. . Above all, pen your sheep up at night with minimum 5 ft tall fence, Chain link or 2x4 welded wire, If you cannot get electricity for yard lights, then try the solar powered ones. There are some good inexpensive fluorescent yard lights that operate for pennies.Build your pen close to the house, I assume you have a dog that is outside at night. Make sure there are no shadows near your pen, I lost a sheep within 50 ft of my house, and tried to stay awake to catch the coyote coming back to the carcass. The coyote dragged the carcass behind a truck into the shadows without my knowledge. For those of you reading this thinking this is inhumane, get real!!! There is nothing humane about the way a coyote kills a sheep. Loading 7 lambs about 3 weeks old into the truck to bury is one job I do not want to do again. Watching a ewe grieve over her lost lamb is not a pretty sight either. The time and attention I put into my sheep would classify them as pets, not livestock. If you need any additional assistance, email me. Cecil in OKla ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
Re: [Blackbelly] Tired of losing sheep to coyotes
Also look at guard dogs. U can get varios bteeds. Best to always have a min of to. I have two, two yr old komadore/anatolian mix. My male goes out to challange n my fem stays w the herd. She is also my midwife. She will get onto her brother if he gets to close during lambing. I got them from a farm that raises sheep n cattle n their parents were workers. I have still had to shoot dogs mostly. So many getting dumped n they get to running in packs. Good luck. On Fri Sep 9th, 2011 6:04 AM CDT Cecil R Bearden wrote: On 9/9/2011 4:42 AM, stewart wrote: to all, can anyone suggest the best way to protect my sheep from coyotes? i work the late shift and the last two morning when i get home i find a dead sheep. i have field fence as a barrier. spent a few hours thursday making certain no holes or spots the coyotes might squeeze through. i have three donkeys. (useless) -free to a good home. any suggestions is much appreciated. stewart ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info Do a google search for coyote trapping. There is an excellent book by a fellow up North who traps for a living. Check your perimeter for signs of trails into you place. Think like a coyote when looking for a trail. Imagine you are walking barefoot, and how you would try to walk where the grass would not scratch your toes..I know it sounds nuts, but it works. They will follow any trail or place where the grass is crushed down by traffic. They walk the roads many times. Is there a culvert under your fence. A coyote is also lazy. Is there feed outside that will attract them. A coyote will eat anything. They come around looking for the dog or cat food, and then when that is gone they eat the dog or catGet some leghold traps, and learn how to set them. Call your state agriculture department and ask for Animal damage Control section. Get on the record as having problems and they may set some traps. Sometimes these guys are good, sometimes they are worthless.. The main thing is to get it on record that you have a problem. Then when you catch a neighbor's dog in the trap, you have some defense against being accused of cruelty to animals. It is probably just one coyote. I don't know where you are located, but here in OKlahoma, due to this drought, we have lost all our cats. The coyotes come into the yard at night. I have my sheep running with 2 horses and 2 longhorn cows that hate dogs I don't know if that works or not, or I have just been lucky. I carry a riflle and shotgun in the truck at all times. I keep them sighted in. A .223 w/ scope is excellent if you are far enough from neighbors. If not, a 12Guage with 00 Buckshot (Lead), use the 3 1/2 inch Magnum Loads with a 24 inch Barrel and full choke. This is good to about 75 Yards. Aim In the center of the body mass. If those pellets get under the hide, the coyote will go off and die. If not, he will steer clear of your place. . Above all, pen your sheep up at night with minimum 5 ft tall fence, Chain link or 2x4 welded wire, If you cannot get electricity for yard lights, then try the solar powered ones. There are some good inexpensive fluorescent yard lights that operate for pennies.Build your pen close to the house, I assume you have a dog that is outside at night. Make sure there are no shadows near your pen, I lost a sheep within 50 ft of my house, and tried to stay awake to catch the coyote coming back to the carcass. The coyote dragged the carcass behind a truck into the shadows without my knowledge. For those of you reading this thinking this is inhumane, get real!!! There is nothing humane about the way a coyote kills a sheep. Loading 7 lambs about 3 weeks old into the truck to bury is one job I do not want to do again. Watching a ewe grieve over her lost lamb is not a pretty sight either. The time and attention I put into my sheep would classify them as pets, not livestock. If you need any additional assistance, email me. Cecil in OKla ___ 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
Re: [Blackbelly] Tired of losing sheep to coyotes
Llamas have worked well for me I have three classic hair llamas so I don't have to shear them and have enjoyed watching them chase coyotes off of my property on two occasions. They can be very inexpensive if not free, easy keepers and mine love to eat fruit left overs from my hand. Dave stewart s2k...@gmail.com wrote: to all, can anyone suggest the best way to protect my sheep from coyotes? i work the late shift and the last two morning when i get home i find a dead sheep. i have field fence as a barrier. spent a few hours thursday making certain no holes or spots the coyotes might squeeze through. i have three donkeys. (useless) -free to a good home. any suggestions is much appreciated. stewart ___ 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
Re: [Blackbelly] Tired of losing sheep to coyotes
I feel very lucky being in Maryland. The only fear for my sheep has been the flooding rains leftover from the hurricane this past week. My brother had mini donkeys with his sheep and I'll tell you, they would kill any critter that came near their herd! They also protected their humans! GOOD LUCK! Wish I could be of help Nancy L. Johnson imgr8a...@comcast.net cell: 301 440 4808 - Original Message - From: stewart s2k...@gmail.com To: blackbelly@lists.blackbellysheep.info Sent: Friday, September 9, 2011 5:42:37 AM Subject: [Blackbelly] Tired of losing sheep to coyotes to all, can anyone suggest the best way to protect my sheep from coyotes? i work the late shift and the last two morning when i get home i find a dead sheep. i have field fence as a barrier. spent a few hours thursday making certain no holes or spots the coyotes might squeeze through. i have three donkeys. (useless) -free to a good home. any suggestions is much appreciated. stewart ___ 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
Re: [Blackbelly] Tired of losing sheep to coyotes
My suggestion would be to fight teeth with teeth. Get a good Livestock Guardian Dog. The only down side for me with LGDs is waiting out the puppy years. One trick I learned is bottle raising a couple of lambs with the dog. They become buddies and the others learn from them. Our Turk (Anatolian) passed away this past week 3 months shy of 13 yrs. old. We never lost a single sheep under Turk's watch. He could run like a deer up to 11 yrs old and stayed very active till about then. Once he learned the sheep were not toys and that they ran from him out of fear and not because they loved going for a long run, he became the greatest asset I could have imagined The sheep loved Turk and he loved them. He stayed with them wherever they went. The mommas would often leave their lambs with him while they foraged. We noticed him going down hill last year and got another Anatolian puppy. I unwisely got a cool looking brindle this time instead of the traditional color of cream, but the sheep don't think he's too cool looking. They are terrified of him as he looks like a 130 lb coyote. This winter we will again raise a bottle ewelamb or two to hopefully create the bond connection. The Anatolian is an extreme athlete, very fast and full of energy. Once past the puppy stage they make incredible guard dogs. We have found them to be extremely sweet and passive to people (except UPS and the meter man) but very nasty to all four legged intruders. There are other breeds that might work for you, but be careful to buy from a working dog breeder. I would also ask if they have any dogs over 6 years of age that you can watch run. Some LGD breed's are lazy and due to bad hips they don't do a lot of patrolling past about 5 yrs old. JMO, Chris - Original Message - From: stewart s2k...@gmail.com To: blackbelly@lists.blackbellysheep.info Sent: Friday, September 09, 2011 4:42 AM Subject: [Blackbelly] Tired of losing sheep to coyotes to all, can anyone suggest the best way to protect my sheep from coyotes? i work the late shift and the last two morning when i get home i find a dead sheep. i have field fence as a barrier. spent a few hours thursday making certain no holes or spots the coyotes might squeeze through. i have three donkeys. (useless) -free to a good home. any suggestions is much appreciated. stewart ___ 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
