I have a pasture with only horned intact AB rams. Do they really need a guard animal the way the ewes and Pygmy goats do?
Michael W. Smith On Jun 6, 2013, at 6:50 PM, "rodnas...@gmail.com" <rodnas...@gmail.com> wrote: > Carol this is Rod from Texas, > The way I keep my black belly sheep safe because I have coyotes and silver > foxes. I got me and Jerusalem donkey guard donkey that is. Ever since then I > have not lost one Lamb, Ram, or ewe. It eats the same thing my sheep eat. You > can't separate him from my sheep he gets mad starts Bellari. It was the best > hundred dollar investment I ever made. > > > LLRB > HotRod 3% > IV Corps TX > ICVMC > > > ----- Reply message ----- > From: "Carol Elkins" <celk...@critterhaven.biz> > To: <blackbelly@lists.blackbellysheep.info> > Subject: [Blackbelly] Dead ewe, coyotes? or something else > Date: Thu, Jun 6, 2013 4:35 pm > > > Michael, in 2008 I had a cougar AND a pack of coyotes kill and eat > five 90-lb ram lambs in one night. All that was left when I found > them the next morning were rib cages, five stomachs (drug away from > the carcasses), and a few testicles. The cat had gone over the fence; > the coyotes dug under. During the two months that I waited to get a > couple of guardian dogs (Great Pyrenees/Anatolian crosses), I lived > under siege and patrolled the pastures a couple of times every night > with a shotgun. > > The cat came back two weeks later (apparently that is their regular > revisiting interval) and killed one of my ewe lambs. I interrupted > her at 2AM and watched her jump a 6-ft chainlink fence. She didn't > climb up it; she jumped it. I had 4-ft field fencing around all of my > paddocks. It stopped nothing until I ran a strand of electric wire > along the top. I also put railroad ties along the bottom, inside the > fence to discourage digging. And during that time, I also locked the > sheep behind bars at night; every opening to their sheds had hog > panel wired across it. > > The minute the guardian dogs arrived, the terror stopped. I've slept > well every night since them. Because you live in a populated > neighborhood, LGDs can create problems with their barking, so that > may not be an option for you, although you mentioned a dog sleeping > with the sheep. Perhaps get another dog or a better dog? If the dog > makes its presence known, generally the predators will stay away > because the risk of their being injured is too great. > > I know how if feels to discover the remains of your flock without > having heard a peep in the night. I'm sorry that happened to you. > > Carol > > At 11:17 PM 6/4/2013, you wrote: >> Or, was it the contents of her stomach after being killed, and then she was >> dragged? It was a rather large amount, and difficult for me to imagine >> any of the animals having that much come out at once, normally. Again, >> there appeared to be no blood on it at all. > > Carol Elkins > Critterhaven--Registered Barbados Blackbelly Hair Sheep > (no shear, no dock, no fuss) > Pueblo, Colorado > http://www.critterhaven.biz > > _______________________________________________ > 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
