The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: shep53 on September 06, 2015, 01:05:47 pm
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The facts, 15th aug weaning the last field of x lambs 2 missing , went to search and found a bit of wool plus the spine and ribs of the second lamb no sign . All x lambs weaned and running in 6 fields next to one another and over the road from the field above . 24th aug found wool and bone fragments in field 3 . 30th aug dead lamb shoulders eaten neck severed at the shoulders and head and neck missing in field 1 3rd sept dead lamb only spine and ribs / skin again head and neck severed missing field 1 ( the wool on the neck area was bloody but the ground was clean ) 4th sept lamb alive with blood on its neck and a couple of light puncture wounds. field 1 These are tex x lambs born april and thriving . Very strange that all the lambs including stomach and contents / intestines etc all gone plus the head and neck gone . Thoughts ???
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Probably a group of foxes or badgers. Missing head suggests badger. Have you had any stray dogs hanging around?
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Very unusual that a fox or badger would catch and kill weaned lambs. Sounds like it could be a dog, but again it would be a bit unusual that the dog would eat it like that.
Big cat?
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A litter of this years fox cubs is the most likely culprits.
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weird.
Strangest part is how clean the ground is and how all the innards have gone. Maybe the crows took those away but it is indeed a mysterious occurrence.
I think you need a camera
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Badgers generally go into a downer cow through the udder - underbelly is a soft way into the body cavity.
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With the innards being missing my money is certainly on badgers, whether they initially killed the lambs, stole them off a fox or cleared up once a fox had finished is the mystery!
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After talking to gamekeepers and farmers the favourite was a single dog , no badgers around nearest 8mls away . But the reality ( well done crofters wife ) was a pair of dog foxes born this year both now DEAD shot half an hour ago . :thumbsup: No one has seen anything like this before so what's the story Crofters Wife
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The crofter was the "vermin modulator" (we need to be pc about it) here for a few years and had seen this before.
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Sounds like either dogs or foxes - that said Its unusual for foxes to take mature lambs IMO / IME they will if desperate but ive never had a fox take this late in the season, they usually take them much smaller.
That said a big dog fox will do that, but that habit doesn’t last long as they get shot and others don’t learn.
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Very very unlikely to be a pair of foxes born this year taking down weaned lambs. Very likely that a litter of cubs could strip the carcasses though, same with ravens. We've had ewes stripped bare by ravens in hours. But Usually its an ill ewe etc. Live 30 + kilo lambs are a handful for most things. . . . . . foxes are bloody small animals in reality!
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7kg a fox?
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Yer average dog fox weight is quoted around 7k with vixens around 5.5 k. Seen some very large dog foxes, but relatively speaking, they are still not a 'big' animal. Certainly a healthy fat lamb should easily be able to run from / over one.
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Thinking on it - sounds like a stray dog took the lamb for "fun" and the carcase was stripped down - thinking back to my losses, this is usually the cause - though its usually badgers stripping the carcase.
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Having seen the size of some of our local foxes they weigh a fair bit more than 7kg even allowing for big fur coats.
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I shot a big dog fox (small lamb killer) weighed it and was surprised to find he only weighed 7kg
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Possible dog attack, carcasses finished off by foxes, badgers and winged predators.
(or maybe the Beast of Argyll? Here in Dorset some still think there is a large member of the cat family that they've named the beast that is responsible for similar deaths)
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Possibly some kind of wild cat/beast. There's quite a few reports in my area from wild animals that were released or escaped years ago and are still roaming around. We had a foal attacked and left for dead years ago.
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I'd say badger. We used to mark up lambs with Stockholm tar and was taught to mark haunches for the fox and the neck for the badger. Hope you find the culprit x
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Update , last night a vixen cub shot in same field wt 5kg the dog cubs were a little bigger so 6kg , our foxes are tall and long
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They may have been stripping the carcass a bit (and you can usually tell by the teeth marks on bones etc) but they are certainly not pulling down fat lambs. . . . . . and neither is a badger. If healthy weaned lambs are being killed in their multiples. . . . . there is something more afoot that either fox or badger predation. . . . . .
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Yes, maybe one of these on the loose https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5XlQpmOvfQ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5XlQpmOvfQ)