Devastated, coyote attacked our lamb

[deb4o]

So very sorry to hear about your baby. We too have coyotes. They are just in back of our place and we hear them every nignt,we have too large dogs out back and haven't lost an animal yet.

The idea of a Llama is great- they will defend your livestock till the death. You should get two as one will herd the stock to a safe place and one will fight the coyotes or what ever is endangering the stock.

I recused 3, two years ago, they are great animals (do not spit -unless you get between them and thier food, they mostly spit at each other). I re-homed them as we don't have a large herd, and our little 2 acres needs to be feeding us.
Good luck at keeping those *&#* coyote away from your stock.

 

[Beekissed]

For now, 4 strand electric would help. Folks around here lock their sheep and goats up in the barns at night when they can. When they can't they have donkeys or llamas in the fields. Few folks have the GPs around here, as they don't do well deterring the bears.

So sorry about your lamb. This is something everyone fears for their sheep and goats, so it hits close to home for all of us.

 

[SKR8PN]

Call them in and use a crossbow. Much safer in an incorporated area, quiet and just as deadly. Set up a blind and ambush them. I am afraid your going to have to spend a lot of time and money on enough fencing to keep them out now that they know where dinner is.

 

[FarmerDenise]

So sorry about your lamb. It just stinks when you lose a farm animal to a predator.

I also recommend a crossbow. They are nice and quiet and quite easy to use.

 

[sufficientforme]

That may be what we will do, my husband will have to borrow a crossbow. We added 4 strands of electric around all the cattle panels, reinforced all the mesh (even more) We believe they did not actually make in in the fence after looking at the aftermath, they pushed the mesh out and it looks like they drug her to the fence (she is super friendly to our dog, she may have thought it was her )
We will most likely add a door to their lean-to to make it a full stall also, just not enough daylight hours today.
We found their point of entry a 1x2 foot hole dug under our 5 foot chain link fence and went around the hotwire in place. Filled that in with rocks and added a 4 inch off the ground wire to the fence.
I will be sleeping with my pellet gun in hand and the dog will be out as late as possible.
The vet stated she felt we had more than enough fencing, that they seemed really determined to get to them, must have been really hungry already from the cold.
I have made it my mission to kill them no matter what it takes, my child who has already had such a traumatic year with food allergies, now lost the baby sheep on this childs birthday today. Not been a good day at our house......Thanks for all the kind words.

*eta that the Vet thought she knew of some people getting rid of their donkey due to finances and would call them and see if they wanted to get rid of it now, we will have one asap, we just cannot get another dog this year, we already have 3.

 

[ToLiveToLaugh]

Bless you for making the right choice for that animal. It is hard for us to let them go, but when they're hurting, we have to.

As for dealing with them, I third the bow idea. If that's just not possible, it could be worth setting up a live trap. I would recommend snares, but you have dogs, so that is a NO GO! Very bad stories there.

And for the future, it might be worth digging down and sinking some fencing. That's what we ended up doing for our chickens, since the skunks around here dig so much.

***And by live trap, I mean trap them and then take them somewhere you CAN use a weapon. Or do what my momma does and tie a rope to the handle and chuck it in a pond. Whatever works.

 

[enjoy the ride]

I put off reading this- it is so painful to lose livestock like this. I have no advice to offer, just sympathy.