WARNING! The contents of this post may be graphic and unsettling proceed with caution……..
Sunday morning we woke to find evidence that dogs had come in the night, killing two lambs and injuring two more.
Whenever something is killed on the farm we make sure to take note of how it was killed so we know what we’re dealing with, each animal has its own way of doing the job. So far this year we’ve had four lambs killed, one by cougar, one by eagle, and now, two by dogs!
The eagle was caught red handed. The cougar kill was identified by left-behind entrails and missing body.
No wild animal just kills for the fun of it, they kill one and eat it, they don’t just chase willy nilly killing one and move on to the next. This kill and mayhem is definitely the work of dogs!
In the morning before they were let out, the sheep were found scattered outside their electric-net fence enclosure. The net is three and a half feet high, electrified on each horizontal strand except for the bottom. It is meant to keep the livestock in and marauders out.
Clearly dogs had gotten in to make a game of it, nothing else has caused the sheep to brave pushing down the electro-net fence. That and the manner of kill and injury point only to dogs. Only one of the two they killed had been partially eaten, one just torn apart, and two others have large gashes on their legs. Thankfully they didn’t kill more, only injuring two! We’ve had friends who’s small flocks have been completely destroyed by neighborhood dogs running in packs at night.
Of the two survivors this one got the the worst of it, big tears on both his legs….we cleaned and stitched ‘em up.
This guy only needed some nfz puffer and he was good to go! (nfz- Nitrofurazone powder in a puffing bottle used for antisepsis)
Now the sheep sleep in a twenty-by-thirty six foot high cyclone pen with a canopy over that and their hot fence around that……They should be safe now!
EBet….angry farmer!
Thats very alarming news my friends.
You have acted very quick for the poor lambs.
Ebet, I’m so sorry to see what the dogs did to your lambs. I don’t blame you for being angry. How sad that some were killed too. I hope the injured ones will heal quickly.
Hi Ebet, I am so sorry. Have you thought about getting a donkey or a Great Pyrenees or a Llama? I follow one gal in Kentucky that has Hank a Great Pyrenees dog. I hope the injured heal well. The new fence sounds like just the thing to keep them safe..I cannot believe people just let their dogs roam free to kill livestock..what kind of heathens are they anyway. Hang in there:)
Man! That always makes me mad when folks’ dogs are out messing with other’s livestock. CT and I just got done with our Hunter Education classes and the Fish and Wildlife Game warden came out to talk to us all for an evening. He’s had quite a few cougar and bear captures in our area this year and is happy to come out to help should you have any sightings.
What a tragedy – I hate it – of course we’ve had many different kinds of attacks – most bizarre was a cougar killed and ate a small doeling in the pen – right in front of other goats (we could tell all this by tracks in mud in pens – not witnessed by us)
Yikes! I hope thats the last one you loose-to anything!