PLEASE HELP. I AM TRYING TO SAVE MY SHEEP

Baymule

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Great news! Coyotes will kill everything they can. Glad that you got so many of them. How touching that your ewe came to you and rested her head on your shoulder. Sheep aren't as stupid as they are made out to be.
 

Sheepshape

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I've only just seen this thread, and am SO glad that we don't have the serious predators that many of you have.Great news that you have cleared so many.

I was horrified to lose a chicken to a buzzard a few weeks ago. Foxes are our worst predators, particularly for the chicken, but coyotes etc are a whole different ball game..

If you have despatched so many coyotes hopefully things will soon look up. Sheep can become very affectionate and trusting...it's nice that you are being seen as 'head ram'......protector etc. I hope you will soon be able to fully enjoy your sheep.
 

Eteda

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spot realized you were protecting her. that was her way of saying thank you. sometimes something good can come from something bad. I am so sorry you had such a sad beginning. I had a pack of 12 feral dogs get after my sheep. they got into my pasture. luckily I was able to transfer the sheep to another pasture and barn. It took me a yer to get my LGD Gabe. the dogs made rounds through the community. he was 3 months old when they came through the first time. hearing them on the baby monitor I went out to keep watch. Gabe sounded off, and you could have herd a pin drop. complete silence. the next night the same thing happened. they didn't come back on my property after that. they kept their distance. my neighbors eventually took care of them when they attacked their dog in broad day light while they were walking across the pasture with them. If and when your rabbits and small wild life disappear you have coyotes around. around hear all the dogs in 3 square miles start barking all at once when the coyotes hollar. Id rather have foxes. I fear coyotes the most because they hunt in packs. I have a bobcat and a black bear on the other side of the fence. so far they haven't had the nerve to even try.
I bought one of those pump water balloon fillers from the dollar store. I put men's coloane in the water and throw them over the fence as far as I can at the coyotes. I also shoot bottle rockets at them. I try to sneak up close to them as I can get before unleashing my arsenal. I shout and holler at them. I have houses all around and shooting isn't very safe. They have to cross three fences and come down an alleyway straight into the dog. they cant circle behind him. the barn is between my and my neighbors house and he has one of those big streetlights out their. I think location of the sheep is key to their safety. during the day the neighbors dogs run on the other side of the fence.
4 days ago I discovered a spotted fawn in with the ram in his pasture. It is the only field the dog does not go into. It was obviously born in their. I saw it likcing water off the fence after the rain. so I opened the gates and ran it into the bottom field where the pond was. It drank for a long time. this morning I thought for sure after 3 days it would be gone. but it was not. I went to open the gate to put it back in the field in which it had come and it FINALLY jumped the fence. I need to graze the fields down to plant winter forage and this little fawn is impeding progress. LOL. she's so cute! I saw mom hopping away through the field. she's quite healthy and fat. she's not an orphan. I so hope she is gone in the morning so I can move the sheep to that side of the property. the dog has seen her and gotten after her but she was on the other side of the fence. so I guess I'll go deer hunting in the morning. Maybe I can get a picture of her If she is still hear. what do ya do when your pasture becomes a playpen for a fawn? I think she thought the dog was the white ram cause she didnt even run from the dog. I just need her on the other side of the fence just out of sight of the dog.
 

Baymule

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Last summer and this summer, two does stashed their fawns in our horse pasture. I call it a horse pasture, but really it is woods with lots of large old trees on the ground that died in the 2011 drought. We just keep a round bale out for the horses. it's 2 1/2 acres, the dogs don't go back there. I have no problem with that, but the does walk just on the other side of the fence from the dogs and drive them NUTS.
 

Eteda

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the little fawn was gone this morning. so I took the opportunity to cut the maple tree off the fence that blew down the other day and proceeded to take out as many popcorn trees as I could. does any one know if maple tree leaves are poisonous to sheep and goats. I guess I will hold up a day or so putting the sheep in their till I have a chance to research it. well I got to go study. got to go look up goat worms and maple leaves.
 

BreanneRN

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I would think maple leaves would be very, very, tasty... Glad you solved your predator problem. But coyotes aren't the only killers in the woods... I was in a similar situation some years back, but the problem was a Mountain Lion/Cougar. There were coyotes also, but they followed the Lion, cleaning up the scene. At first, that took until the next day. The first sheep I lost was one that the neighbors shot and injured but survived with some supportive care. She had a neck injury that caused her to have to get down on her knees to eat. She lay out in the pasture while I treated her because I felt it was better for her to have the support of the herd. They watched over her and I gave her antibiotics and fluids until she was on her feet and eating again. That was the first one that the Lion took, a couple of years later. A lion usually kills by hooking a tooth in the eye socket and breaking the neck. They then empty the body cavity, eating all the organ meat. Then they leave, after raking leaves over the kill, probably planning to come back when they are hungry again. But, the pack of coyotes followed the lion more closely with every kill. After losing the 3rd sheep, I called Dept of Fish and Game and they did get rid of the lion, who had also been sighted 2 miles away along a bike path close to the river. It was kind of a scary time for me. I don't have a gun and those lions are quick and silent killers. Glad I didn't have chickens at the time. I didn't go out at night until the lion was gone.
 

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