Hey John, Thanks for the DE reference! I'll look into that.
And no, I never found out what happened to my lambs. They disappeared off the face of the earth without a trace. However, since then I have put padlocks on all my perimeter gates, and have installed 5 wildlife monitoring cameras at various places in the woods and posts, aimed at different angles. A wildlife tracker who sells this equipment has them mounted on my property for free, in exchange for exclusive bow hunting privileges. It is a wonderful arrangement. He checks the discs once per week and sends me digital photos of anything unusual caught on film. So far we have caught only a fox, which alerted us to his entry place. We fixed his entry hole and haven't seen him in any further photos. The fox was too small to be a threat to the sheep and lambs, but I do think that answered the question of who was killing my ducks (I had lost 10 ducks earlier this summer). No further duck losses at all since then.
The thinking is still that it was either a big cat (cougar teaching growing cubs to hunt), or a human rustler. I think if it was a human, the locks on the gates and the possibility of them seeing one or more of the cameras (locket onto trees or high up on utility poles) will discourage them from trying again. If it was a big cat, they may try again later, but hopefully we'll at least catch them in the act next time.
And also, I have added 2 livestock guardian dogs to my farm since then. Their very presence will probably help a lot.
Mary At 11:05 AM 10/20/2011, you wrote:
Mary: I have ordered 50# bags of food grade DE from Shadow Ridge Donkeys (http://www.shadowridgedonkeys.com/perma_food_grade.htm). Did you ever figure what happened to your lambs? Sandy: Used the absolute best field fence you can afford for your perimeter and make sure it is properly installed (primarily adequate corner post/anchoring). My preference was the Kencove SolidLock 48" (at about $1.00 per foot). Properly installed it is worth the money. I don't use any other barbed or electrified wiring and have yet to have any problems with unwanted quests - knock on wood. I had a huge pine tree about 40' tall fall across it and all I had to do was to cut the tree and the fence stood back up by itself. I expect it to outlast me. I'm already having to replace the cheaper (Red Brand) field fence I used for one portion of internal cross-fencing - guess what I'm replacing it with? John Carlton Double J Farms _______________________________________________ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
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