Friday, January 15, 2016

Eeek

Found this print yesterday on the driveway right by my front door. The day before that I found a whole trail of similar prints emerging from the woods across the road, marching straight up the drive by the pony barn into the alpacas' area before disappearing.

Bigger than a cat's paw. Smaller than a big dog like our Boomerang.

Notice the claw prints at the top.

I'm 99% certain it's a coyote print.

I hear a pack yipping out by the creek in the fields behind our pastures almost every night, but I've never seen them come so close to the house or barns before.

We have so many little bitty sheep. It's a worry.






3 comments:

  1. Yes, eek is right. I doubt alpacas can function as well as llamas as protectors of bitty sheep. If everyone is tucked in (behind closed doors) at night, you should be okay. A few motion sensitive spotlights might not be a bad idea, too. Or a pair of Maremmas. Plus a shotgun or six.

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  2. One Maremma would probably work, as you don't have too much acreage, right? My Bess has been very, very effective and she is not yet a year old. However, I am careful to make sure that she is never in a dangerous situation. We walk the perimeter of the farm every day, along with the Border collies, and this seems to make a great difference. I do not lock my sheep up at night, although they always have access and feed in the barn. The coyotes seem to be very intimidated by Bess' ferocious barking.

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  3. you need a 'Hank'. We all need a Hank.

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