[waterbuffalofarmer]

so sorry to hear about that Hellybee, was it crows by any chance? another darned animal. Thanks [member=27351]verdifish[/member]  I will definitely try that. My neighbor does keep a shotgun and an air rifle, I have had him shoot crows on my holding and rabbits too, so I will definitely ask him for assistance. I mananged to bring them in with help from one of my brothers and they will hopefully stay in until they're a week old. The one who lost one of her lambs has too much milk for one, even for two lambs, so I have had to milk her out to relieve her, busy days ahead!

[Hellybee]

He's said magpie.


He s bought those whizzy pumpkin shape scarers  to deter them, but everyone being so close to the house now I touch wood think we ll be ok.

[shotblastuk]

Had the city do-gooders not banned foxhunting and given the general public the right to roam (ignore rights of way). Had ageing has been rock stars not raised the profile of the sweet lovely badger, had Bill Oddie had found another hobby !! 

[Davea321]

Hi  Whereabouts are you in Ceredigion? I may be able to put you in touch with a local guy that will sort this out for you once and for all

[Timothy5]

We have no trouble with foxes, they walk through the field and the ewes take no notice, so obviously don't feel there is any threat. Stray dogs, on the other hand, is quite a different matter. Being scavengers, foxes will clear up afterbirth and still births, but I have never witnessed an attack. If I actually saw it, as opposed to making assumptions, then I might reconsider, but the foxes here seem content with easier prey. There are plentiful rabbits, and no shortage of rats in the dykes.

I don't know if it makes any difference, but my sheep have good horns and know how to use them. The ram is in with the ewes all year, and is very protective.

I don't pretend to know all the answers, but would assume that over the generations they would have evolved some form of defense when kept as naturally as possible. Although dogs are something they would not have had time to develop a strategy against.

[harmony]

Timothy5 I hope it remains that way.  All animals have defense mechanisms but at the same time the meat eaters have also got pretty good mechanisms in place too. If they come for after births and still births (which wouldn't you remove?) then you are just encouraging them onto your land are you not?

[waterbuffalofarmer]

All the afterbirths where cleaned up by the ewes and the lambs where over a day old. I really don't understand it, but there isn't much food around atm the rabbits are only just starting to emerge. I have the ram in with them but he has taken himself to the other side of the field when any lambs arrive. I think what may have happened was one of the lambs was probably lying down away from the mother and the fox came, but they where all in perfect health and getting stronger so could it be a dog from another farm? There where no remains of wool, only 3 blood patches with bits of bloody flesh and a trail of blood leading under a fence. I brought all the ewes in with their lambs, until the lambs are strong enough and then I am putting them at the other end of the farm closer to the house, I really hope this works!

[verdifish]

All the afterbirths where cleaned up by the ewes and the lambs where over a day old. I really don't understand it, but there isn't much food around atm the rabbits are only just starting to emerge. I have the ram in with them but he has taken himself to the other side of the field when any lambs arrive. I think what may have happened was one of the lambs was probably lying down away from the mother and the fox came, but they where all in perfect health and getting stronger so could it be a dog from another farm? There where no remains of wool, only 3 blood patches with bits of bloody flesh and a trail of blood leading under a fence. I brought all the ewes in with their lambs, until the lambs are strong enough and then I am putting them at the other end of the farm closer to the house, I really hope this works!

So it could be a badger!

[waterbuffalofarmer]

Yea it could be verdifish. Apparently there is a nest of them just off my land which are monitored, but not by me wouldn't a badger leave behind bits of it though?

[verdifish]

Yea it could be verdifish. Apparently there is a nest of them just off my land which are monitored, but not by me wouldn't a badger leave behind bits of it though?

Badgers will often drag a living lamb of back to its sett and consume there. So no evidence other than blood spots where the badgers has gripped the lamb in the 1St place. Badgers have an extremely strong bite.

[OhLaLa]

Get yourself a HUMANE fox trap. I say humane as that way if anything else wanders into it you can release it unharmed. Once you have caught fox you can then shoot it with a clean shot.

You could also invest in a Trail Cam and watch what happens in the area overnight, or put up some cctv.

[Timothy5]

Harmony, much as I might like to, I cannot be present 24/7. If a lamb is stillborn in the night, I may not see it right away. If it is there in the morning, I would naturally remove it.

As I say, I don't know all the answers, I have only been keeping sheep for 35 years, so no doubt I still have much to learn, but I can honestly say that I have NEVER lost a lamb to a fox, nor a badger , for that matter.

[Foobar]

I think there are two types of foxes - ones who hunt and ones who scavenge - and it depends where you live as to which ones you get unfortunately.  Equally sheep come with varying degrees of protectiveness/alertness - some are dead dosey and forget where they left their lambs and others know precisely where they are at all times and keep a constant eye out.  Some will do a creche thing, sharing the guard duties between the mums so that others can sleep.


If you have foxes that you need to deal with then you need to be dealing with them before lambing/cubbing time - i.e. Jan & Feb.  By now they probably have cubs and that gives the gun more of a task to find and deal with them too, and the mums will be more inclined to hunt rather than scavenge when they have more mouths to feed.


Having rams in with the ewes is a good idea I think, assuming they don't interfere with the lambing process.  If you have a good one he'll do a good job of keeping any menaces away.


As an aside - two white sheep from my neighbours broke into my field this weekend ... and my black sheep went a bit mental, you'd have thought a wolf or something had broken in, they are keeping in a really tight bunch with a constant eye on the invaders.  Quite funny/interesting really (if it wasn't so annoying)!

[harmony]

Timothy5 no-one can be there 24/7 so how do you know for certain a lamb was stillborn and cleaned up by foxes or badgers or that it wasn't killed and taken if it is gone when you go?


And foxes who take hens certainly aren't scavenging dead birds.

[Timothy5]

I don't wish to get involved in a pointless argument, but I will say that I have reared all the lambs that were expected.

As for the hens, I consider it my responsibility if I wish to keep birds, to house them securely. It is not the responsibility of a predator to pass up an easy meal.

In the past when a farmer did not get as many lambs as he would have liked, he might ask why. It has ever been too easy to point to a dead fox, and say, ''I got the culprit for you, Boss.''

I do not permit the hunt, or any guns on my land, any fool can destroy something, and NO, I am not a townie, but a countryman born and bred, our family have farmed since before the 1600s.