[OhLaLa]

What age lamb, for fox not to bother trying to take it?

We've spotted foxes in the sheep field early in the evenings, and the youngsters worried and asked. I said they are too big now but it occurred to me I actually don't know precisely.

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

I had an April born lamb taken in Spetember last year :-(((( but I believe it to have been a badger or a dog from farming neighbours opinions of the nature of the wounds. But it is possible it might have been a fox. The mum was also attacked but survived with some raking scratches down her back :-OO

[SallyintNorth]

Badgers strip the skin off, you usually have a roll of inside-out skin/fleece hanging off the skeleton.

A fox really isn't a very large animal and is unlikely to tackle a lamb bigger than itself, unless the lamb is very sickly and weak.

Dogs that thought they were just playing and got carried away usually pull a lot of wool off, often off the rear end if they've chased the lamb before catching it.

[Padge]

interesting........would a fox be likely to attack the full grown ewes?   I do heve a tangible reason for asking :/

[SallyintNorth]

interesting........would a fox be likely to attack the full grown ewes?   I do heve a tangible reason for asking :/

Again, I would have thought only if the ewe(s) in question were extremely weak, probably close to death.  The only other circumstance I could think of (apart from rabies, which is not very likely in the UK) would be self defence - if the fox had been eating a lamb and the mother had decided to go for her baby's attacker, and the fox was cornered and couldn't run.

[Padge]

Sally   we were lambing in a barn   full of newly lambed and expectant ewes. Our eldest son rushed in to say there was a lamb dead in the field  it had puncture marks on its back end .  On closer inspection of the ewes   two were wounded    we had only just moved here and there is a public footpath runs along the property   we suspected a dog    but there had been a guy shooting the land for a number of years most insistent a fox. Now OH shoots  and walks the land regularly   also shoots a friends land and whilst i don't wish to tempt fate has seen no sign of fox at all thus far........so we figure an incompetent dog walkers dog did the damage        We have invested  a considerable sum of money fencing the public footpath    leaving a more than reasonable stretch to be walked by dog walkers ramblers etc   but which should eliminate access to the livestock

[feldar]

I agree with Sally i would have thought it very unlikely a fox would attack a sound ewe. We have a high fox population and we lamb in December, we rarely have lambs taken, sometimes they may grab a very weak one at birth especially if mum goes down to lamb the next twin,  but we pen the ewe maybe for a day or two then let mum and lamb/s out, at a couple of days old those lambs can really move so we have not lost any to foxes ( touch wood). Now ravens that's another story they come and peck lambs and ewes whilst ewe is in the throws of birthing, lost 10 lambs and 2 ewes one year to them.

[Padge]

hmmmm and they're a beggar to shoot

[SallyintNorth]

Padge, the damage you describe is consistent with a dog attack.  Very wise of you to fence the footpath to keep walkers' dogs clear of your stock.  It will have cost some money and effort, for sure, but should mean a lot less trouble, angst, lost lambs and stress for many years to come.

One of our neighbours has recently fenced off the public footpath.  Now his cattle can look after their calves and walkers can enjoy the Roman Wall and never the twain shall meet.

[Padge]

I dare say there was a very distressed dog owner that day. Thankfully the majority of dog walkers now keep them on a lead tho of course they are limited as to where they can walk........we seem to have fewer of them.........had more ramblers over the summer.....with one lady spouting 'the right to roam' at OH.....

[woollyval]

We live in an area with lots of foxes....and I don't much like them as they go for my poultry, however.....
Where sheep are concerned foxes are a danger at lambing but as soon as lambs are up and running are much less of a danger than may be thought. Ravens are b####rs and will have a go at lambing or just relaxing sheep....we lost a lamb to ravens this last year.

Now dogs on the other hand are a right menace....and I keep 3 dogs and am a dog lover!
Other peoples pet dogs cause more problems around here than all the foxes put together. My neighbours have just lost a ewe and huge lamb to dogs. The first they found were 2 dead bodies with wool all over the place....classic dog killing. Suspects.....2 family labradors from ajoining land but cannot be proved as they were not caught in the act, although I have caught them worrying before.....owners insist they are 'playing'

A couple of brown terriers from a distance can look remarkably like foxes and if a small dog is in a lot of sheep its very hard to tell other than the fact that dogs persist....

[daddymatty82]

you want to lamp the fox and take them out of the equation then it will for sure make presence up in the sky

[SallyintNorth]

They lamp for foxes around our way and I am always terrified they'll get the cat or someone's dog or a badger or...

Does anyone know how they tell whether it's a fox's eyes a-shining before they pull the trigger?

[ellisr]

I have a dog that from a distance looks like a fat fox but my dogs are in a run and only get walked on a lead. As for my neighbour his dog is always getting into my field and worrying the sheep, he insists it is fine and just playing as my girls are running like mad down into the paddock for safety. I lost 2 lambs at the beginning of the year but no trace except a foot so I suspected at the time it was a fox but now I don't know with this dog running the fields all of the time.

[clumbaboy]

They lamp for foxes around our way and I am always terrified they'll get the cat or someone's dog or a badger or...

Does anyone know how they tell whether it's a fox's eyes a-shining before they pull the trigger?

Hi,
   If the shooter is worth his salt he should be confirming the target before they shoot, if they are not they are too far away or should'nt be shooting. Shooters like that give careful shooters a bad name. Personally I will not shoot unless I am 100% sure of the target. Would rather come back another night for a fox than risk shooting something that I did not intend to.

  On another matter a farmer shot a dog that was worrying sheep, the owner was over a mile away in another field, his two dogs drove sheep into the river, three drowned and a few badly mauled. The dogs completely ignored the warning shots, so he shot one and the other legged it.