I thought Ibex were hard to raise. I have now come to the conclusion that Mouflon at least for me are harder. I have 3 ewes and this is now the third year I have not raised any. I had one lamb that was about a week or so old up until the day before yesterday. Now it is gone. My hat is off to those that do it successfully. Oh and I am not any better with Blackbuck. Going on three years ago I got one male and 3 females. As of today I have one male and two females.

Don,
I am assuming coyotes are getting the lambs and fawns...is that correct? If so, and I'm just asking, are they in an enclosure that you can coyote proof or are these in a low fence pasture.

You should buy a boat don

I had a boat. Had a horse. I was a Flight Engineer on a Boeing 727 until the owners after 20 years finally found out it was cheaper to charter one than to own one. The boat I lost money on. The horse I would have if I would have had to feed it everything it ate. So the statement on owning any of the three actually comes from first hand knowledge. Must have been pretty slow at the realty office the last few days eh?

I had someone tell me once that "If you can drive it,fly it, sail it or screw it...... rent it don't buy it."

I think he told me that shortly after he was divorced.

Yep been pretty slow


Anyway. What's the deal with your mouflon? I didn't know they were that hard to keep alive.

BB are a little more fragile

I wish I knew the problem. The ewes get bred. they have lambs. Then in a week or so after I see the lambs they disappear. I usually blame it on coyotes. but this year I don't know. The 3 ewes were not seen for a couple of weeks. this is normal when they are going to lamb. then 2 reappeared with no lambs. then the third came with a lamb. Looked good. Saw it for about a week. then yesterday it was gone and still gone today. Have not seen any coyote sign lately. now I have to save the ram for a couple more years. He should really be good by then. After that I don't know. I don't think I can catch the ewes to sell them. the land selling business seems to be picking up. Seeing more places for sale lately. maybe just more places for sale but less buyers. Good luck with yours.

It's a busy time right now. Lack of good inventory on ranch property is what is hurting us

Don, Maybe You have an Owl Problem?? I had a two week old Lamb taken by an Owl one time, I have a Remedy for it, but can't post Publicly....

When Don said he did not think it was coyotes or bobcats I was thinking maybe an eagle or owl.

I saw a Great Horned Owl a while back. I thought they only went after rats rabbits and such. Also got a picture of a bobcat on a trail camera.

My dad loves to trap, he'll gladly clean out your bobcats and coyotes... Just needs a place to plop his RV for a week or two.

Thanks but I keep them cleaned out pretty well. But there are always new ones. I have snares and when I see any sigh of one in the place I have means of dealing with them also.

Lamb survival is usually very high on mouflons unless you have predators. A few years ago we had a lease in Menard. We saw Golden eagles eating on lamb carcasses there. They are a huge bird, wouldn't have any problems with a mouflon lamb. If you saw a bobcat, he is probably the culprit.

I'm sorry to hear that Don. Definitely sounds like predators are getting them.

Not trying to sound like a smartass here, I promise....but this is why I tell everyone to invest in predator wire when they fence their property. I hear folks all the time saying...."I'm not spending extra money on that, it's too expensive and it can't actually work". Well the answer is YES it does work. It may cost a little more in the beginning, but if it keeps you from losing animals to predators, it saves you TONS of money in the long run....particular if you are raising expensive animals.

Don, is your high fence on your actual property line?...or do you have room on the outside where you could possibly install predator wire?

It is on the property line. I have been installing 4" X 4" X 48" cattle panels and actually setting them below the ground where possible. Also installing Stay Tuff on top of the existing sheep and goat wire. I still have about 3000' to go. I believe my biggest problem it them going through the old existing sheep and goat wire.

Probably a combination of predators. A friend of mine has a vid of a fox getting a white tail fawn. Foxes, bobcats, yotes, pigs and supposedly black headed vultures predate lambs/fawns/kids.

If never seen the vultures do it but sheep raisers tell me that they can swarm the ewe at birth and get the lambs.

My next door neighbor is raising mouflons and blackbucks on 800 acres and we've got eagles and yotes and cats pretty thick. I think having open areas and more than a handful to star with is key. The more eyes and ears you have the better off they are.

Could be that there is safety in numbers. It just seems to me that Mouflon and BB must be easy prey for varmints. It is like a death zone here and yet they still get the Mouflon and BB offspring. I think I will forget about trying to raise them and stick with the Ibex. Even those I raise in a electrified 10 acre enclosure. Then let them get a year old before turning out.

I have seen where coyotes have dug under predator wire(47" net) if the soil is soft enough.

I have never seen or heard of that....especially if it was installed properly. Just to be sure we're talking about the same thing....are you referring to a "predator apron", where a piece of net wire is attached to the bottom wire of the game fence and then goes out horizontally for several feet?

I find it extremely hard to believe that a coyote would be intelligent enough to do that. I think the more likely scenario is that a pig or coyote that was inside the fence dug out under the wire (maybe pushing it up a little bit)....and coyotes from outside then started coming in.

Yes I have installed a few miles of predator apron wire as you call it. I have seen several ranches that have had coyotes dig underneath the 47" net wire into the ranch. It happened to Heart Bar Deer farms also back when they first started. They had to take a trencher then dig a trench to put the wire down into the ground about 24" to stop the coyotes from digging under their predator wire.