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I hate to rain on your parade, BrokenTap, but many sheep farmers have gone out of business due to coyotes. You need to ask around about that. I'm no sheep farmer, but I know three that went completely out of sheep due to coyotes. If you keep your herd dow to the number you can keep indoors at night you could get away with it. You also need to have your 25-06 close by at all times.
That's actually surprising, in the 50 years my Grandmother raised sheep, she never lost a lamb, ewe or ram to a coyote. Several were lost to the family Dalmation however and that is a sad fact. More sheep losses in this country are lost to domestic dog attacks then to coyotes.
I will agree with keeping them in at night will of course protect the flock, but I have hunted coyote and know that shooting a coyote while on full run is pretty hard to do. The coyote is truly one of the most wiley predators out there and while many people think of the poor clutzy Wiley Cayote chasing Roadrunner with his ill-fated Acme products, the truth is a coyote is nearly impossible to nail with a rifle. A team of dogs helps, and to a lesser extent bait.
There are a lot of things that keep coyotes at bay, some of which I have going for me. Having fields in close proximity to homes will help, as is living around family with few domestic dog problems. I'm definately going to add a Donkey to the flock soon, as I think the benefits of a Donkey far outweight that of having Great Pyrenees, but that is a personal choice.
All in all, coyotes don't really deter me. I have heard the horror stories but to be honest with you, the family histor here with sheep runs back several hundred years and I have yet to hear of one coyote confirmed kill.
Can you utilize the meat from a coyote for anything? I would think it would be rather tough unless they're really fattened up from their kills. Is it cost effective for any animal feed or even bird suet? I know it's prolly not the most intelligent question I've ever asked, but I'm curious to know.
Can you utilize the meat from a coyote for anything? I would think it would be rather tough unless they're really fattened up from their kills. Is it cost effective for any animal feed or even bird suet? I know it's prolly not the most intelligent question I've ever asked, but I'm curious to know.
Just for pelts.
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