The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Primitive Sheep => Topic started by: Birchlea on May 04, 2017, 09:26:47 pm
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Has anyone heard of foxes being a problem with Soay lambs?
We have many foxes here and I do 'control' them to keep my poultry a bit safer but was wondering if I should be extra alert after my ewes have lambed as this will be my first experience of lambs.
Should I put my ram and wether back in with the girls after lambing to help look after them?
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I keep ewes and lambs separate from the rest of the flock. A ram or wether is unlikely to see off a fox or badger that has decided it wants lamb for supper. If you're nervous I suggest housing the ewes and lambs overnight until the lambs are reasonably well grown.
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There was a fox very close to our seven hour old lamb last night but the mother and other ewes protected it. I couldn't take a shot as there was a stock fence in the line of fire and a ricochet could have been very nasty. The dogs saw it off but if it comes back it's days are numbered. Night vision won't work tonight as its raining hard so the lamb and ewe are in the stable for the night.
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I have a problem with Foxes and Lleyn lambs! This year has been ok but there have been attacks for the last few years. I'd keep the lambs inside for at least a week and be particularly careful about twins. The lambs attacked were all twins and I suspect the ewe was curled up with one lamb and forgot about the other - which is why they were killed
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We have Soay. Haven't lambed for the last couple of years but didn't have any problems when we did.
Foxes pretty well controlled by gamekeepers but we have lots of woodland around us so foxes do come and go.
Local shepherd advised us to pen any twins or weak lambs overnight so they had chance to get a bit of strength. He said that the fox would often target a ewe with twins so that he could take one while she was distracted with the other.
Ours were great mums though and really alert to dangers and quick to face off anything that came in the paddock. No dogs,cats etc allowed anywhere in their patch!
At night they tended to rest in a circle at the top of the hill with the lambs in the centre and adults around them.
Also very noisy if they thought anything untoward was going on ..... Like ravens hanging around in the day.
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I lost three this year to foxes. I would recommend hitting them hard in late winter to get their numbers down. I saw one of them get taken - fox ran in amongst them, managed to separate a week old twin from it mother then had it and was gone over the fence.