casowner Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 Last week we found a ewe dead that had her throat ripped out and her stomach eaten (she was days within lambing). We put it down to foxes either killing her when she was down or eating her after if she had died. One thing kept bothering me - the throat being ripped out, normally foxes eat the back end and/or tail and I have never seen so much damage on a sheep through foxes. The ewes started lambing 2 days ago and are by the house, this morning I looked out the window and saw a ewe down so went to check it out. She was freshly deceased with her throat completely ripped to pieces and no other wounds. The other sheep were standing huddled by the gate but that doesn't suprise me as the feed was low and I was about to move them into the next paddock anyway. The donkey had been braying this morning which he rarely does and the 3 camels were right near the fence, they chase dogs normally too. We had problems recently with the neighbours cockers chasing stock but they haven't been an issue for a few months though. Other neighbours have dogs but I haven't seen them on the property however I have seen paw prints in the mud by the new house next door. I am hoping this isn't a neighbours dog as the outcome will not be a happy one I do not expect and if it is foxes they normally take lambs or feed on carcasses and it frightens me about how the lambing season will go. It amazes me how much we relied on having a flock guardian here and ever since he has been gone we have had major issues with predators. I know there are quite a few dog/stock savvy people here so what do you think dog or fox? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crisovar Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 It certainly sounds like dogs from what you have described. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BJean Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 (edited) I think dog(s), not fox. You should let me send you another canine warrior in the interim hey :D Edited May 26, 2011 by lilli Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BJean Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 (edited) forgot to add that an adult sheep (what is the singular ) is big prey for a single fox usually they go for lambs. ETA: (totally unrelated) @ crisovar - hehe your signature is really funny, I just noticed it lol Some people are like slinkies - not really good for anything, but still they make you smile when you push them down the stairs. Edited May 26, 2011 by lilli Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casowner Posted May 26, 2011 Author Share Posted May 26, 2011 Yes that is what bothers me lilli as the lambs are about to start being born (3 have arrived) and the ewe was almost beheaded, some of the ewes are quite old and are about to go to market and this may explain why they are being taken in particular. It has been horribly cold too so they may have been weaker and easier prey and I have never had foxes take an adult ewe especially with 5 rams in the yard with them. We went from having 20-40 lamb fatalities per season due to foxes to having 2 or 3 for the past couple of years. Granted we ended up hand rearing a lot more as the boy kept bringing them home with him but fox activity was definately much lower. Don't worry we are all highly anticipating our new flock guarding family member when the time comes :D Ben is already hassling me with letting him pick names but seeing though he wants to change his own name to Lion Cub when he turns 18 I am not overly excited about his chances Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staranais Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 Can you examine the ewe & find any clear canine marks (often helps to strip the skin & look underneath), then measure the inter-canine distance? This is what we do to distinguish ferret, stoat & cat bird kills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casowner Posted May 26, 2011 Author Share Posted May 26, 2011 My OH has already disposed of the bodies, I would of had a good look at the one this morning but I was carrying my 7 month old son and trying to not get bowled over by over zealous animals. If it happens again I definately will and I am going to invest in a farm camera that is motion sensored and takes photos when there is movement so if another ewe goes down I can set the camera up and check what comes back. This way if it is a dog I can identify it too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pudel Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 Sounds like dogs to me also. I gather by your photos you used to have an alpaca guarding your herd. I know of people that have rented alpacas for this reason, so you may be able to hire one for lambing season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casowner Posted May 26, 2011 Author Share Posted May 26, 2011 (edited) Sounds like dogs to me also. I gather by your photos you used to have an alpaca guarding your herd. I know of people that have rented alpacas for this reason, so you may be able to hire one for lambing season. I already have 3 alpacas and they "may" help against foxes (I am not too convinced), I have had 2 of them for over 4 years and the entire male for nearly 18 months. Bonza, Thisbee and Pharoah seem more interested in being by themselves than with the sheep, in fact they were pushing the ewes away from the lambs today. Alpacas are not much assistance against dogs and I have seen alpacas taken down too. Edited to add that the yard the sheep were in last night is only about 2 acres and were only in there as it was highly overgrown so we had about 140 sheep in there for 48 hours and the 3 alpacas were there too Edited May 26, 2011 by casowner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 :( it sounds more like dogs to me ... I have seen sheep down, and yes the rear end gets eaten,,and the tongue, if it's foxes. How awful. My brother has just come in- I asked him ..and he said that cockers couldn't rip a throat OUT ..they may harass and leave bite marks everywhere .... he said it would be a big dog . where the ewe was.. it may pay to check for dog hair ..even on the wool. the tracks ... get photos of them .. use something like a matchbox alongside them for scale ..and save them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Are You Serious Jo Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 Doesn't sound like a fox to me either, more like a hungry dog rather than a thrill seeker or you'd have lost more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deerhound owner Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 Casowner - really sorry to hear about your sheep I was at a free range pig production workshop on the weekend and they mentioed these things called fox lights which reduced their piglet mortalities from foxes to zero. I'm not sure of their efficacy on dogs but it might help at least until you can get your new guardian pup. they work by releasing completely random flashes of light, automatically turning on at dusk and off again at dawn. hope that helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casowner Posted May 26, 2011 Author Share Posted May 26, 2011 Thanks DHO I will look into those especially near my kangaroo pen as this ewe was literally 20 metres away from them. The new pen is being erected now with 7ft fencing, electric near ground level and up the top and also mesh along the bottom and buried 2ft out but they won't be in there for quite a while. The hard thing is our property is very hilly which is why the alpacas have trouble doing their job I guess but then again I have seen a fox walk right past the alpacas and towards a ewe and lamb before. If they see my little sable pom cross they try to kill her though. If they work we could put them around the night camp sites to help a bit as I do expect big fox lamb losses this year too. The property is only 140 acres but is divided into 9 paddocks. I am sending out an email to all of the neighbours telling them what has happened to give them a friendly reminder that they need to keep their dogs contained or risk it being euthanased. We find turtle shells quite often and there is an area in the reeds that is flattened where the foxes catch them but like I said this is very different to what has happened before Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShesaLikeableBiBear Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 Am so sorry to hear about your sheep. I would have to say a wild dog attack. We lost 20 sheep in 2 separate attacks, they were in a paddock of about 4 acres, with x2 alpaca to guard them and general consensus was 6-8 wild dogs, alpaca didn't stand a chance and in an area that size the dogs ran the sheep down. I have some pretty graphic photos of what happened to the sheep and will not share them here, as it would be too upsetting for many. We have 40 acres and our boundary fences are now hot wired top and bottom, plus we have erected a night pen, a transportable shade shed, with six strands of hot wire, starting about 1" off the ground. The alpaca now go in at night with the sheep-we only have 30 sheep. I would be concerned that you had your 140 sheep in a 2 acre paddock with 3 alpaca for 48 hours- one would expect a large number of dogs to get in to that small an area, without too much room to run the sheep down and play with them. If for any reason we leave the stock in a small area at night (max 60x90) we make sure the alpaca are there with them plus a horse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nekhbet Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 sounds definately like a dog, a reason the alpacas would have hung back too if outnumbered Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casowner Posted May 26, 2011 Author Share Posted May 26, 2011 Hesa I just asked my OH and he said the paddock is closer to 3 acres but they had heaps of room I know it sounds a lot but you wouldn't even think that there was that many in there. The grass was way above my knees and they haven't done much damage to it, I just wanted them to mow it as the horses, donkey and camels are not making a dent on it but they have access to another 15 acres also as we keep the gate open. To be honest all they did was eat like pigs the first day and rest yesterday I gave them a bale of hay and they just looked at it. The yard is in between my house and my neighbours and neither heard any commotion which I would expect if there was a pack. Many of the sheep are damara crosses and they normally sit together and are very protective and it was an old first cross ewe down today. The only horse I have down here (the others are next door) is a stallion and he gets too bossy and he is so bonded with the donkey gelding, camels and emu that if one is in they all have to be in however all of them were standing at the gate between the two paddocks this morning. I couldn't have the stallion in with the new born lambs as he would be likely to step on them and if the bull camel is in a mood he would pick them up. The sheep go into this yard maybe once a year otherwise they are rotated every two to five days in the larger paddocks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogfan Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 Sounds like dogs did it to me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casowner Posted May 26, 2011 Author Share Posted May 26, 2011 This is the paddock and you can see how close my neighbours bedroom is to it, the ewe was found very close to this spot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dju Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 (edited) This is the paddock and you can see how close my neighbours bedroom is to it, the ewe was found very close to this spot Sorry, horrendously off-topic, but.. What.. what is that thing dangling next to her tail?? Do I want to know?? Edited May 26, 2011 by Dju Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casowner Posted May 26, 2011 Author Share Posted May 26, 2011 Dju it is just the sack the lamb had just been born sorry I forgot about that bit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now