Dog Attack

 WARNING! The contents of this post may be graphic and unsettling proceed with caution……..

Sunday morning we woke to find evidence that dogs had come in the night, killing two lambs and injuring two more.

Whenever something is killed on the farm we make sure to take note of how it was killed so we know what we’re dealing with,  each animal has its own way of doing the job. So far this year we’ve had four lambs killed, one by cougar, one by eagle, and now, two by dogs!

The eagle was caught red handed.  The cougar kill was identified by left-behind entrails and missing body.

No wild animal just kills for the fun of it, they kill one and eat it, they don’t just chase willy nilly killing one and move on to the next.  This kill and mayhem is definitely the work of dogs! 

In the morning before they were let out, the sheep were found scattered outside their electric-net fence enclosure.  The net is three and a half feet high, electrified on each horizontal strand except for the bottom.  It is meant to keep the livestock in and marauders out.  

Clearly dogs had gotten in to make a game of it, nothing else has caused the sheep to brave pushing down the electro-net fence. That and the manner of kill and injury point only to dogs.  Only one of the two they killed had been partially eaten, one just torn apart, and two others have large gashes on their legs.  Thankfully they didn’t kill more, only injuring two!   We’ve had friends who’s small flocks have been completely destroyed by neighborhood dogs running in packs at night.         

Of the two survivors this one got the the worst of it, big tears on both his legs….we cleaned and stitched ‘em up. 

This guy only needed some nfz puffer  and he was good to go!  (nfz- Nitrofurazone powder in a puffing bottle used for antisepsis)

Now the sheep sleep in a twenty-by-thirty six foot high cyclone pen with a canopy over that and their hot fence around that……They should be safe now!

EBet….angry farmer!