fpbear Posted September 25, 2007 Report Share Posted September 25, 2007 We currently have electrostop fence and are soon getting a Maremma guard dog to keep coyotes away. While searching the web for info on sheep predation, I read an abstract of a study that says 0 sheep were lost to coyotes in the study when the sheep wore a bell. So if I add bells as an extra measure, will this provide any help? If it is so effective as claimed in the study, why is this not more common practice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Fosher Posted September 26, 2007 Report Share Posted September 26, 2007 It would be interesting to run a controlled study of sheep on the same farm in the same sort of fencing without bells. I suspect that they would have lost zero sheep in both groups. You know, like the Vermonter who spends all day banging pots and pans together to keep the tigers away. Never been known to fail! Seriously, I think that bells might deter coyotes in a situation were pressure is very low and alternate food sources are readily available. But they aren't going to be deterred if they are hungry or very well trained about eating sheep off a particular farm just because there's a bell around a sheep's neck. It might make them stop and be a little more observant for a while, but it's not going to keep them from making the kill all by itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btrent Posted September 26, 2007 Report Share Posted September 26, 2007 We had about 1/3 of our ~30 sheep belled and I think it helped for a while but the coyote got accustomed to the bells and still came in and killed/maimed sheep. However I do think it helped for a long time. The county trapper who came out to help us with the coyote problem did say that he felt bells were of some use. They are not enough alone, though. However the bells are cheap and easy and cannot hurt. We bugged out of that field, however, when we started to get hit every morning at dawn. The sheep are now on a borrowed pasture and we're casting about for sheep-housing solutions. Some of the sheep are still belled even though we don't really need the bells right now; the person who lives at the borrowed field finds the sounds of the bells soothing after a long day in the city. good luck, --Billy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Fosher Posted September 27, 2007 Report Share Posted September 27, 2007 I love the sound of belled sheep as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca, Irena Farm Posted September 27, 2007 Report Share Posted September 27, 2007 We have a belled sheep - it's not for predator control, it's to let me know when they are making a run for it! I belled the troublemaker and it worked extremely well. It was so funny when I first belled her. She was scaring the other sheep and she was scaring herself too! The bell would startle the other sheep, they'd trot downfield, then of course she'd try to follow and then it would end up being her chasing the other sheep all over. I sure wouldn't recommend belling really flighty sheep like Border Cheviots. We have moderate to heavy pressure from both roaming dogs and coyotes, and haven't had a loss since moving. I never thought of the bell being a factor. We have lousy fences so I attribute the safety of the sheep pretty much to the dogs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burnandreturn Posted November 16, 2007 Report Share Posted November 16, 2007 We used western burro's. Was funny to watch the coyotes follow the fence to skirt the pasture with the burro. Wouldn't even cross a pasture with a burro. Kept them with the sheep and with the mare's and foals. Also they kept the neighbors dogs out. A burro will attack a strange dog, cat or coyote Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcnewe2 Posted November 16, 2007 Report Share Posted November 16, 2007 I love the sound of belled sheep as well. Who ever thought I'd love the sound of barking dogs. But I do. If the guardboys are barking I know things are safe. IMO I think bells might work in the short term but a hungry coyote would soon test a bell. When we kept chickens back in MO we used to keep a radio going on the same pretence. Don't know if it ever worked but in the end critters still got to the chickens. I think burros might work better than llamas but in the end nothing beats a good guard dog or 2. I've also heard burros can be hell on invited visiting working dogs. The LGD's don't give a hoot about working dogs as long as we're out there with them. I loved Becca's story about the belled sheep scaring the other sheep, even the one that was wearing the bell. We had all white sheep in the beginning, the first time we added a small ram with color it took a couple days for the sheep to quit running away, poor little guy would run after the running sheep trying to get away from the big bad monster that was chasing them. He never figured out it was him! IMO Bells can't hurt but I sure wouldn't want to count on them with nothing in the wings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1sheepdoggal Posted November 17, 2007 Report Share Posted November 17, 2007 I took a 3 day weekend horse back ride/ camping trip up in the High Uintas in Utah several years ago, the mountain was covered in sheep! In the early morning, you could hear them Baaaing along with the sounds of the bells. Pretty neat! Must have rode into 4 or 5 different herds through the course of the weekend. A number of the sheep were belled in each herd, but they were also accompanied by some pretty mean ass dogs. (Akbash is what they were) Didnt see a shephard at all, not anywhere on the mountain, just sheep and dogs. I wondered about the bells, but came to the conclusion that they were probably on them for the shepherd to locate them. Now I wonder if they served a dual purpose. Though to tell ya the truth, I couldnt imagine anything getting past those dogs! Human, horse, or hungry bear, those dogs were all about protecing the sheep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeltaBluez Tess Posted November 17, 2007 Report Share Posted November 17, 2007 The coyotes over here would think of the belled sheep as "Look, dinner has arrived" Diane~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sheep Guy Posted November 29, 2007 Report Share Posted November 29, 2007 We use bells on our sheep but more as a way to count them and hear them in the Mountains. Bells would work as a deternent if you had a Livestock Gaurdian dog that also had a bell. Or a Llama for that matter. Coyotes are fast to learn and if they learned that a bell ment trouble for them, they would leave at the sound. The Coyotes here will not run away if your truck or tractor is moving or they hear the engine has a steady pace, if the engine slows down they run. A slowing vehicle = gun = death. We also pay to use airplanes to control Coyotes here and the ones that don't get controlled soon learn that an airplane = gun = death. I give Coyotes 100% respect for adjusting and survival. The fact is, you will always have to adjust your techniques to control Coyotes. Just when you think you have things under control they will strike. We use several LGDs and a herder and airplanes and trapping and lots of hard work to keep them from taking our lambs. It just takes one old smart Coyote to teach you a hard lesson about adjusting to your environment. We run 1200 ewes and 1500 of their lambs on over 1000 acres in the spring. We run on over 6000 acres in the mountains in the summer. When we go to the mountains and start dealing with lots and lots of bears and Mountain Lions, I actually miss the Coyotes. Eric JT Harlow Harlow's Hills West Coast Natural Lamb, Super-Fine Wool, Border Collies www.harlowshillswestcoast.com 541 215 9109 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1sheepdoggal Posted November 29, 2007 Report Share Posted November 29, 2007 You use the bells as more of a way to count them? I heard some thing simaler not long ago. I was looking at a vast herd out in Colorado, and asked why there where black ones scattered throughout the herd. They said they too were used for counting. Something like there'd be one black sheep for every 200 white ones? Interesting. Is that how you use the belled sheep as well? And if so, is it a pretty accurate way to judge give or take a few head? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sheep Guy Posted November 30, 2007 Report Share Posted November 30, 2007 Last summer I ran 820 ewes and all their lambs in the mountains. I needed a way to count them when I brought them to the bedding ground. This is very common in our area. Most sheep guys run sheep in the mountains. Ways I keep count: 1 belled sheep for every 100 ewes 1 three-legged sheep (she broke her shoulder last year at shearing) She is always the last one to bring up the rear. 3 black lambs 1 lead ewe (she is a bottle bady and comes to her name) 67 yearling-ewes that had big yellow tags. I didn't count all the yearling ewes each night but I did count them about once a week. I figured, if I had all the yearlings, all the sheep were there. Most of the old-timers around here run 1 black ewe for every 100 ewes. They also run 1 belled ewe for each 100 ewes. So, you can count the bells and the blacks and if you had them, you got them all. One day, I lost 200 sheep. I had no idea they were gone because I had all my counting sheep. Go figure. I got a call that they had setup camp in the backyard of one of those fancy mountain retreats. They had it good until I showed up to bring them down to my level. Eric JT Harlow Harlow's Hills West Coast Natural Lamb, Super-Fine Wool, Border Collies www.harlowshillswestcoast.com 541 215 9109 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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