Last Sunday evening, my Southdown ewe and her 5 week old ewe lamb were attacked by a dog. It dug under the fence to get in and I don't know how long it was in there for before I found them. The baby was fine aside from a small bite on her rump, but my ewee died on tuesday. She was missing half her left ear and had a huge hole about 3 inches long in her neck, and you could see all down her neck in every direction. Her left teat had also been ripped almost all the way off. She also had various other small bites all over. I treated her for 2 days with penicilin and banamine, and cleaned her wounds 2-3 times a day, but I found her dead tuesday afternoon. Now I have an orphan baby and need help. I have artificial lamb formula and a nipple, but she won't drink it. I have to practically force it down. Is there anything else I can give her, or anything I can add to it to enhance the flavor that won't be harmful to her?
Oh I am so sorry! I HATE that other people won't be responsible for their dogs! It's really, really hard to get them to take a bottle at that age, after nursing so long. Do you have lamb nipples? http://www.premier1supplies.com carries the lamb caprine nipples. They're the only ones we ever had any luck with. But at 5 weeks of age, you might have more luck with a bucket, or just wean the lamb.
I'm so sorry about your ewe. Keep an eye out for the dog because unless you disposed of it already it will try to come back. Do you have any idea of who owns it? As for your lamb, it is very hard to get them to take the bottle once they have nursed for so long. It can be weaned at 5 weeks, however. (I usually wean my bottle babies at about that time.) I lost a couple of ewes this year when the lambs were that age and they are doing just fine on feed. If you haven't vaccinated it for clostridial diseases and tetnus, do so at this time. Good luck and keep us posted.
You can TRY to get the lamb used to the idea that food comes from a bottle. Use a long-neck bottle (beer or wine), put some warm sweetened milk (ordinary cow's milk will work) in it, catch the standing lamb between your knees facing her head, introduce the neck of the bottle into the side of her mouth behind the teeth and slurp a bit of warm sweet milk into her mouth. Repeat a few times and she may get the idea. You could also try getting her to drink the same mixture from a bowl - she won't need it long. Just force her lips to dip a centimetre (quarter inch) under the liquid then let go. a couple of times with her licking the liquid off her lips and she may be good to go. At worst, she might even survive on solid food at this stage. Chick crumbles and chaffed lucerne hay with plenty of clean water available beside it.
What happened to your sheep and lambs is the best reason I can think of to own a good stock guarding dog. A dog MIGHT get under or through my fence but IT WILL NEVER GET OUT or ever attack a sheep. My Anatolian is ruthless in this regard. I just pick up the dog carcass, put it in a plastic trash bag, hang the collar in the barn if it has one as a trophy and dispose of the dog carcass in the trash. One more Fido that never returns home. If they come on the property and I see them before the dog does, one bark from a 22 magnum solves the problem as well.
A little persitance will pay off. I've had a few stubborn ones take weeks to learn but they will. You can tube feed it and do get it onto solid feed ASAP. It can be very difficult to nurse such serious injuries, but it was worth a shot.
I'm sorry to hear about your ewe, that really stinks. A guard dog would work well, but I think that a guard llama would work better. Just make sure it is a gelding if you get a male. A person I know who lives somewhat nearby has seen her gelding llama kill a dog that got into her sheep area. They are *very* effective guardians, and eat the same food the sheep do.
Thank you all so much for your help. Yes I do have a sheep nipple, but the ewe doesn't seem to like the formula at all. She is eating solid food a bit and munching on hay, I just don't want her losing to much weight or getting t5oo stressed. The thing is, I'm a hunter/jumper rider and board my horses at a show stable a couple minutes from my house. I'm in 4-h and have been raising sheep for the past few years along with others who ride with me. We keep all our sheep out at the stable in one big herd and take turns caring for them. I knew that this summer I wasn't going to be able to make it out to my stable as much as I wanted for a couple reasons, so I decided to bring my sheep home. We had an old chain link pen from the previous owners, and it took me 2 days to clear out, but it turned out good in the end. I was only planning on keeping the sheep there for 2 months. I've already got a deposit on the lamb and I was going to take the ewe back once aschool started again. I considered taking my favorite guard dog from the stable, an australian shepard mix named Cash Dog, home for the summer to watch the sheep and take care of our armadillo problem, but my mother wouldn't hear of it. She's not quite as into animals as I am. No more animals! So the entire pen was lined with raiload ties and I thought safe. The sheep were in there for a good 3 weeks. If you could see the hole this big dog squeezed through. After digging, the fence is raised about 3 1/2 inches from the ground. The lady who owns the dog (we did locate her and call animal services) claims her dog is harmless and must have simply been curious about the sheep and that the sheep must have provoked it to make him attack. I have yet to witness a sheep provoke a dog into attack, but I suppose stranger things have happened. I made the point that being as the dog was on MY property, my sheep had every right to do whatever it pleased. Anyways, the fact that the lamb sustained almost no injuries shows, I guess, that my ewe did a pretty good job of protecting her. I never did like the ewe. She was built down hill and no good in the show ring due to complete insanity, but she threw really nice lambs that always did really well. I really didn't like her because she was more trouble than she was worth sometimes. She broke my finger in Feb. But she fought up until the end. She forced me to take her for a walk the morning that she died. She was pretty brave and I'm sad to see her go. Thanks again for all the advice. I'll try sweetend milk, and if she doesn't take that, i'll just see how she does on her own. I guess I'll give her all her shots tomorrow and go from there. I just don't see how that lady can claim her dog is harmless. MY dad says if one of his dogs ever turned and killed an animal, he would have taken it out back and shot it in the head, end of story. The really bad thing is, that the day after my ewe died, my neighbor spotted the dog roaming around loose again. The owner confirmd that the dog had once again gotten out. The animal control officer said that if the dog ever gets loose again and comes on our property, we are allowed to kill it and then have the cops pull the record of the attack and claim that we felt threatened. So I've got my gun waiting in the garage.
Send your neighbor a bill for the ewe, the treatment and disposal costs. Include your reasonable time, and something for raising an orphan lamb. A sheep may provoke a dog by defending its lamb but you're absolutely right your ewe was on your land doing as it should. You can prove her dog is not harmless, even if provoked it went far beyond a normal defence. My BC can get provoked to nip, it doesn't turn her into a killer.
Great Pyranees dispatches the culprit, pastured potbellied pigs do the disposal. All I find is the skull.
I would not only bill her, I would use it as an opportunity to become familiar with small claims court, that is try to actually collect the bill. Over and above the attack taking place on your property, there are different rules of law between a pet and livestock in most states. This means that a pet has no standing (read this as value) in most places according to the law. Livestock does have standing as real property; therefore you have the right to collect as has been suggested. As a breeder, you could even demand lost future value if the dog owner continues to deny responsibility. Even should you not pursue these options, just the threat may help to straighten up this person. I recently had to face the same type of situation when dogs killed 23 of 33 ducks including 4 out of 5 laying hens. When confronted, the owners were apologetic and took measures to correct the situation and have acknowledged that the dogs are on borrowed time. The dogs are now properly confined to their own property is the only reason they have not been put down. I love dogs and respect peoples pets, but once the animal leaves its owners property it is no longer a pets, rather it is a feral predator and of no use other than compost. I can tolerate loosing something to a wild animal, but not someoneâs "pet".
I definitely plan on asking her to reimburst me for the cost of the sheep and meds, and for loss of use and future profits. Even though she wasn't that great of a show ewe, she still did earn premiums, and I plan on pursuing that as well. I don't really care about the money too much past vet and actual value, but I want to take enough out of her pocket to make her think twice about letting her dog loose again. The fact that the dog was loose again so soon after my ewe's death shows that she has no regard for other people's property and animals what so ever. She even went as far as to say that I should expect things like that to happen when raising farm animals, and that I was just being sentimental because I was so young (16). I made it clear to her that while I was upset, I also understood the responsibilities and risks of raising animals. I understand that animals get sick, injured, die, are sold, slaughtered, ect. and are even killed by wild predators, but that does not under any circumstances make it okay for her animal to come on my property and harrass my livestock. People act like owning a pet is a right, when really it is a privilege. One that should be taken away if it's abused.
You sound like a very bright and articulate young lady. One who shows more maturity and wisdom than the woman with the dog. When you present the neighbor lady with the bill for the ewe, the meds, the vet bill, and any other items you can tack onto it, you can tell HER that is what SHE should expect when she acts in a irresponsible manner and allows her dog to run loose and it destroys other peoples' property.
No, don't. There's no need to do anything that would tend to antagonise her more than the bare dispassionate necessities will already do. In fact, it would be a good idea to make up a letter of claim or even outright invoice detailing what she owes for what items, then send it by registered post so you have a receipt for it. If she doesn't come through, you can document everything and use a small claims court to run at her without the expense of a lawyer. Make sure that you diarise everything too, so that if it comes to it six or nine months later you wiill be able to refer back to your diary and say exactly what happened when.
