Coyotes

milkman · #1 02/04/14, 07:13 AM

Anyone ever had problem with coyotes getting kid goats? Have started shutting them up at night in lot at barn. Another one missing. Will lights help? Im almost positive its coyotes, saw one a week ago near pasture. Any suggestions?

April · #2 02/04/14, 07:42 AM

I had a big coyote problem until I got guard dogs. They're brazen, but easily spooked. The kids' dam may be successful at keeping them away, but I'm not sure of that. Lights won't help - the ones in our area try for the chicken coop in broad daylight.

hercsmama · #3 02/04/14, 07:55 AM

Two Pyrs keep everything under control here.
Do you have dogs?

hiddensprings · #4 02/04/14, 08:08 AM

we have anatolian shepherds to keep them away. And my son traps so he's really helped keep them under control. He got a big male last night on main fence line.

GreenMomma · #5 02/04/14, 09:52 AM

Dogs are the only thing that helped us, too. We were losing goats to mountain lions and chickens to coyotes and loose dogs... we had a coyote run across our arena around lunch time.

I'm pretty afraid of dogs, especially big ones... so I was very resistant to the idea of getting an LGD for a while. As far as I'm concerned now: best purchase for the farm we've ever made. She's a great alarm system, we haven't had a single loss (though I'm sure that perfect record can't last forever) since bringing her home. She watches over all the critters and we could have easily spent well over her purchase price and cost to feed in strengthening fences and structures many times over by now. And our losses during daylight hours would have not been prevented.

nehimama · #6 02/04/14, 12:40 PM

My Great Pyrenees LGDs have thwarted predators here for years.

CadesLilFarm · #7 02/04/14, 01:23 PM

Great pyrenees!!!! Two dogs. Male and female would keep those yotes under the wraps!!!!! I guarantee it!

nehimama · #8 02/04/14, 02:46 PM

I have puppies!
Mama is outside, patrolling and taking a potty break.

CadesLilFarm · #9 02/04/14, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nehimama

i have puppies!
Mama is outside, patrolling and taking a potty break.

cute!!!!!

jd4020 · #10 02/04/14, 03:53 PM

Puppies are just adorable!!!

Love those little tummy grunts.

I have a question for those of you who own the GP.
Once aclimated to living with and protecting the livestock, do they let you (their owners) handle, groom, clip or do whatever needs to be done?
When ever we are at someone's house, who own one, (and it does live with the livestock) the dog is always dirty, with huge mats hanging off it's belly. And these are just a few people we have met. Are they so connected to what they are guarding that the owner can't work with them?
We know someone who had to put their dog down because maggots had eaten into the muscle and was too far gone to save it. This was over 15 years ago. I have been thinking of a guard dog, (actually favoring the Anatolian) but was wondering about this, about them all, but particularly the GP.
Thanks.
God bless,
jd

nehimama · #11 02/04/14, 04:41 PM

My huge male, the baby daddy of the puppies is very protective of his flock, but lets me handle him easily. The spayed female, too. Fiercely protective, but allows me to do anything & everything. (I raised them from pups.)

GreenMomma · #12 02/04/14, 05:04 PM

The best advice we got when getting a LGD (we have a GP) was to figure out how we envisioned her job, what we wanted her to do, and start doing it from day 1.

-She lived with the goats starting the day she came home as a puppy.
-I always handled her, picked up her feet, looked inside her mouth and so on from day 1. (Especially the mouth since I am so afraid of dogs.)
-When I fed her, I made sure she understood that it was my food that I was sharing with her. I still will pick the food dish up when she is halfway done sometimes, just to make sure she's still fine with it.
-I also walked her around the perimeter of her "patrol area" EVERY morning. On leash at first, then off leash. I am concerned that her parents had larger areas (about 5 miles) that they patrolled with their goats, so I don't want her to naturally feel her territory is larger and wander away. She's over a year now and so far has not wandered away.
-We also wanted her to protect our children, so the kids regularly play with her (in the barnyard). She is HUGE, yet has never hurt them even on accident. She absolutely LOVES us... adores being pet and loved on. Loves to tell me goodnight by standing on her hind legs and putting her forehead against mine. We've never had a single moment where she made us nervous or where she behaved in a way that made us feel as though we couldn't do something that we needed to with her.

I don't do a lot of grooming. When the seasons change we spend a day sitting on the ground near the tack room with every family member & a brush

She gets a day of pampering... that she enjoys for about 5 minutes and then tolerates. When I trim the goats' feet I will just walk over to her and pick up her feet to clip her nails too.

I think you just have to decide what you want the dog's job to be and make that their clear lifestyle from the beginning. My husband always wants to take our dog in to town and I have to explain to him (AGAIN) how miserable she would be on a "fun trip" to the park. The only time she leaves the property is to the vet. And our vet deals with a lot of livestock dogs so they understand that she's going to army crawl in the door and hate every minute of being away from her goats. They do all the procedures and vaccinations that she'll need for the year so that we don't have her leaving the property any more than absolutely needed.

But I know there are plenty of folks that have GPs in the house, take them on car rides, etc. They just have to conditioned to it...

CAjerseychick · #13 02/04/14, 08:45 PM

Actually Greenmomma I love to hear that you guys love on your dog, even as livestock guards they are still dogs and bond to their people-- I dont think you have to take them to the park or into town to have them handler friendly...

also I am pretty sure we have coyote (as my daughter told me she saw a "wolf" back in the trees when she was playing one day, and I seriously doubt we have wolves)... but our lgd pup and guard dogs (they are barking right now at the back of the property) do the trick...
right now the goats are behind the house (in the chicken yard bedded in straw under our porch overhang) but when we move them to the back pen and barn I am alittle worried myself, as they will kid over the summer, and its back near where the "wolf" sighting was...

jd4020 · #14 02/04/14, 11:17 PM

Thank you for your kind replies. I figured it is all how you train and handle them. They learn what you expect of them.
Again, those sure are some mighty cute puppies you have there.
God bless,
jd

GreenMomma · #15 02/05/14, 12:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CAjerseychick

right now the goats are behind the house (in the chicken yard bedded in straw under our porch overhang) but when we move them to the back pen and barn I am alittle worried myself, as they will kid over the summer, and its back near where the "wolf" sighting was...

Our barnyard is a quite a little walk from our house. We can see it from the windows, but it's probably 1/8 mile. When we first moved here we had the goats in a temporary pen outside in the yard near the house and kept our porch light on at night. Had the pen covered to keep the lions out. That son-of-a-you-know-what pulled a hole in the chainlink, got in and killed both goats, ate a good portion of one. Then left.

From our experience, the dog will do the trick more than the proximity to your house. After the last rain I had lion tracks around my car for some reason... like it was trying to see if there was anything good inside. But the closest that we've found tracks near the dog is a hundred yards or so and it's just one ballsy bobcat.

dozedotz · #16 02/05/14, 07:03 AM

I just saw another ad the other day about someone cutting back and looking for a home for a trained Pyr. I KNOW you could find a dog or puppy that would fit with your family...they are amazing!