Product Protection Plan

[PureCountry]

I keep forgetting to ask y'all about what you may or may not have tried for keeping coyote dogs out of the calving paddocks. With moving to June 1st calving next year, I've been busy planning my fencing and where to build a shed with my maternity pen. But the one thing about all my calving paddocks is they are in the middle of 4 sections of pasture around our dugout, and it's prime predator country.
I've heard of people using everything from dogs to donkeys to goats, and even the increasingly popular Peruvian Saddle-Pony, sorry, I mean Llama. But I'd just like to know how some of these things have worked for you guys.

[cakadu]

Purecountry, there are a number of predator control methods that you have mentioned.

Llamas are one method, but they have to be bonded to the animals, not to you. We have a llama and it is not really happy about people, but come near his sheep, especially at lambing and he is none too pleasant. I had a lamb get separated from it's mom last year and he was trying to blow cud all over me because I was trying to get mom and baby reunited. Yet, this llama will follow the lambs around like a little puppy dog and he has to know each and every lamb. Males are generally better if they are gelded, but that is a personal preference.

For us, I can't say enough about a livestock guardian dog. They are worth their weight in gold. Again, they have to be bonded to whatever it is you want them to guard, but their instincts are to protect the animals. They are also unlike other breeds of dogs in that the predators cannot draw them out, they stay with the animals.

There are many different breeds of livestock guardians - Maremma, Pyrenees, Kuvasz, Anatolian Shepherd, Kommondor. When buying a puppy, try to make sure that it is from "working" parents and it has been raised with animals.

If you have a lot of predators around, then you might be better off getting two dogs as it is less stress for just one. The dogs will look like they aren't really doing anything, but they can go from an absolute sound sleep to being on guard in no time.

They basically work on what is "right" in their environment and if something doesn't feel right to them, their instincts kick in.

There have been several books written on them and you can maybe find at least one in your local library.

[cowman]

I guess my coyotes must be a well behaved bunch. I've never lost a calf to coyotes. They cruise through the cows all the time but never take a run at a calf and the cows basically just ignore them.
There are a couple of local hog barns in the area and it seems my coyotes like pork better than beef! There is a constant supply of deads going out the back door! The worst part of that is often the coyotes pick up mange from the darned pigs. That is a pretty brutal thing and I try to get those mangy coyotes shot before they freeze to death.