[Jacob-list] predator question

[Karen Askounis]

For those of you who have lost sheep to coyotes is it common to have almost
nothing remaining after the attack? I have lost two ram lambs (one at a
time) - the first one simply was gone without a trace! No blood, no wool, no
wool or hair over or under fences - nothing. The second one - as is usually
the case - my most favorite sheep of all time L - found one piece of hide,
some bits of wool, his tail, no blood anywhere in pasture, again no wool or
hair on any exterior fences. These were ram lambs about 6 months old. They
were in with a donkey. Not sure if I should be mad at the donkey or happy he
kept losses to one lamb each time. This pasture had a hot wire across the
top but no lower predator hot wire (until last weekend, after the fact of
course). There were a few spots where the ground had washed away a bit under
the fence leaving some space under the fence where I figure they got in.
Does this sound like a pack of coyotes or should I be looking for something
else? We are in north eastern Illinois. Not sure what other predators to be
thinking of.

 

On a slightly different subject - does anyone think sheep with un-docked
tails are easier for predators to catch??

 

Karen Askounis

Three Fates Farm

Crete, IL

kaskounis at threefatesjacobs.com

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.pairlist.net/pipermail/jacob-list/attachments/20120927/caf26262/attachment.htm>