Is anybody else having losses due to coyotes?

[Liberty Belle]

I certainly feel for you Ranchero. You live in beautiful country down there. About ten years ago, my husband and I and two of our sons spent a month helping to build a church in a little town called Agarista (I think that's how it's spelled?) and we loved the area and the people. I'd move down there if it weren't for the grandkids and this ranch.

We run cattle and sheep in western South Dakota and we'd be out of business if it weren't for our aerial predator control pilot. The state Game Fish and Parks has a trapper stationed in our area, but he has a personality problem and refuses to work with most of the producers, even though he is paid by our tax dollars to do so. Although in all fairness, even if he would work for all the ranchers, the area is so big and predators so numerous, he couldn't control them effectively if he tried.

It's pretty hard to feel sorry for the "poor coyote" when you come onto a coyote kill and see the torture their prey goes through. They are not a nice animal, and while I hate to see any living creature suffer, we all do our very best to put them (meaning the coyotes) out of their misery whenever we can, using any available means to do so.

 

[Anonymous]

Sabrina55- You asked about why the coyotes are along the water or beach-- I think it comes back to that they are also scavengers and many dead or dying creatures get washed up on the beach....I am near a large lake and have seen coyotes working the shoreline, picking up dead fish and eating on dead animal carcass's that washed ashore- also hunting for game that comes down to drink...

I wish I had kept some of the old pictures I had--Many of these showed cattle that had bogged down in mud on the lakeshore or other reservoirs-the coyotes had come in and eaten huge portions of these calves and cows while they were still alive... We have a hard time in keeping barn cats around as the coyotes get them- I haven't had a dog killed yet, but have had them ripped up and injured in fights with coyotes that come into the yard at night.....

 

[Cowgal]

We have wolves and coyotes up here and lots of them. i bought myself a pair of miniature donkeys 6 years ago. We have never lost a calf on our farm to my knowledge. The miniatures are 36 inches and smaller - make great family pets too! Friends of our who did have big time coyote/wolf problems invested in a pair of standard sized donkeys - the love them and bought more. The donkeys HATE coyotes, wolves and stray dogs. They will kick, bite, shake to death any they catch. They charge at them and bray like mad. You can even get the mammoth sized donkeys! They do keep the coyotes and others at bay.

 

[Jeannie]

We have wolves and coyotes up here and lots of them. i bought myself a pair of miniature donkeys 6 years ago. We have never lost a calf on our farm to my knowledge. The miniatures are 36 inches and smaller - make great family pets too! Friends of our who did have big time coyote/wolf problems invested in a pair of standard sized donkeys - the love them and bought more. The donkeys HATE coyotes, wolves and stray dogs. They will kick, bite, shake to death any they catch. They charge at them and bray like mad. You can even get the mammoth sized donkeys! They do keep the coyotes and others at bay.

The only thing I would add is, if you are going to get a donkey, DON'T get an intact jack (not terribly familiar with donkey's, so not up on my terminology). Jack's have been known to kill calves, also.

 

[ropesanddogs]

Have the coyotes started packing up in any of yalls areas?A little while ago,a man that lives north of us shot 5 grown ones,after an old pair,i was always told and ive always seen them alone,or in pairs,unless theyre teaching young...But all of these were older....Also the buzzards are starting to get pretty ,i dunno how to put this..."predatory" i guess you could say....It seems that theyre not just scavenging anymore,i caught a few of em in the act of pecking at a week old calf the other day that was trying to get away,and they even bothered the mother before i got there...Theyve started to get like this since the spanish eagles are migrating north,has anyone else besides me and the locals noticed this?