# Are coyotes a problem with goats?



## Judy7 (Mar 23, 2012)

I just heard from a neighbor that some coyotes are in our area (about a mile away)...they were heard stirring up a small group of penned pigs and but were scared off last night. This is not the season for hunting yet in our area so a coyote hunter can only shoot them if they are on HIS land. 

Hubby and I do not own a gun but we could borrow a shotgun from our son. 

Suggestions on how to keep my mostly adult Nubians and Boar goats safe...or do I need to worry? Three of them are in a pasture out our back door. Three more are penned up in a shed where I can not see them directly. 

I figure they will go after my chickens out in the shed first but they are shut up tight at dusk. 

We have been here 4 yrs and never had a problem.

Thanks, Judy in Indiana


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## odieclark (Jan 21, 2016)

Coyotes are always a concern. Never trust them, especially if they are hungry! Also, if they think they have an opportunity, well..coyotes take the chance if they feel they can!

I know a coyote took more than half a flock of chickens nearby to us/in Wisconsin. Not unusual at all!

Coyotes have also attacked other small livestock like goats, and even small dogs.


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## SalteyLove (Jun 18, 2011)

You are going to get a wild range of answers on this question. It depends on so many factors and people are very opinionated and passionate on the subject of coyotes. 

One especially important factor is that coyotes are naturally solo hunters BUT in some areas of the U.S. they have evolved to hunt in packs. 

Coyotes are very noisy two times a year: January/February - they are breeding and searching for mates and defending territory and then again in September/October - the mated pairs are kicking that year's pups out of the territory.

It's good to remember - if you are hearing a raucous from coyotes then they aren't actively hunting. What good hunter makes a bunch of noise when it hunts? 

On our farm we have a mated pair of adult coyotes that raise pups every year. This time of year, there is plenty of food (mice & rabbits & other rodents), and I don't have any young kids on the ground. I can leave my herd out all night and have never lost an animal in 6 years to coyotes. 

Great advice I received is: if you have a pair of coyotes that use your property and don't harm your livestock DO NOT kill or harm them! They are defending their territory and preventing other coyotes from moving in, the other coyotes may be livestock killers!

Of course, I take many more precautions during spring kidding when food is scarce for the coyotes and does and kids are very susceptible. 

In my opinion, based on what you have described, you have nothing to worry about. Who knows if the description you received about coyotes "stirring up" a pen of pigs is even accurate? Someone may have just heard both pigs and coyotes the same night.

My goats don't even worry when the coyotes get to singing, BUT if they had one in their sights, they would charge it. My boer does do not mess around with strange canines and have sent quite a few dogs rolling & running. 

And as if I haven't said enough... DESPITE all this and not one bad experience with our coyotes and goats, when a whole group of coyotes gets really loud and close making those blood curdling noises - I do wake up out of a dead sleep with my heart racing. There is something about those noises that makes us naturally on edge. I used to walk up to the goat barn with the dogs every time it happened. (and the goats would all be peaceful and wondering why the heck I was turning the lights on at 1am). I still can't get back to sleep on coyote nights, breeding season is the worst if there is an intruder.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

I think it depends on the area and the coyotes. It's pretty much the same where I live as salty says. No coyotes test my fence, they don't like a trap. I can turn the adults out and they never get bothered. The only time I had a issue was with kids out side of the pen and last year I had a doe who kidded on the fence line and either the kid wiggles threw the fence or the coyote grabbed it threw the fence. Either way it didn't cross the fence. Now about 20 miles up the road where my brother lives they are very brave and cause a lot of problems. I even had one come close to me when I was ridding trying to get my dog to follow it off where its friend was hiding.


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## Damfino (Dec 29, 2013)

I have to disagree with SaltyLove's experience. Coyotes DO attack goats (at least they do in my area!). We don't have packs either, but a pair can still be quite deadly. 

In December 2013 I forgot to plug in my electric fence after doing repairs, and two coyotes reached through and killed one of my full-grown Alpine does. The reason I went out to check is we heard blood-curdling coyote yapping right outside our house next to the goat pen. We went with the flashlight to see what was going on. All the goats were huddled in a frightened mass at the top of the hill, but Nibbles was missing. We found her at the bottom of the pen. She had probably gone down to protect the herd and was grabbed through the fence and killed when they pierced her jugular. The coyotes couldn't drag her through the fence and were making a lot of noise about it. They did not seem inclined to go inside the fence to eat her since they don't like being confined, but they were determined to drag the carcass off. The close end of that pen was only about 30 feet from my house, and the place where they grabbed Nibbles was probably only about 100 feet away. They were not scared of coming right up and taking what they wanted. If they hadn't made the racket that caused us to check, they might have killed more goats before morning. I had others that were smaller than Nibbles that would have been easier to drag off. We got a livestock guardian dog the very next day.

In June 2012 my 200-lb. pack wether was attacked by coyotes in our front pasture. I knew it was coyotes because I heard them. Our boy was big enough and fast enough to fend them off and outrun them, but we didn't find him for two days. In fact, I was out searching everywhere for a carcass. He turned up almost three miles from our house, terrified, dehydrated, and with bites all over his head, neck, and back but still very much alive. He was ten years old when it happened so he never fully recovered from the experience. The exhausting run left him with permanent lung and joint damage which we've managed ever since. In my experience, coyotes are very dangerous to goats. Make sure your fence is secure, and if you're not 100% sure about your fence, lock the goats in at night or get a livestock guardian dog.


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

Facinating info Katey!

We have them here but since we have an LGD I do not worry.
I had a couple of free range chickens who eventually were snatched up for a meal. One disappeared then a few weeks later the other one. Since the other chickens are in an enclosed area where the dog is they have been safe.
I have lost most of my barn kitties to coyotes I'm sure. They never slept in the barn.


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## PurpleToad (Feb 14, 2016)

We have coyotes around here and while they've never messed with anything IN the yard I've seen them right outside of it. This is our first year with goats but if we here the coyotes singing before bedtime we go out and lock the goats into their goathouse. They have a small yard attached to their building that is fenced in, so to get to our goats the coyotes have to go through our permanent yard fence, electric fence, and into their house. My husband would wake up by then.lol Our indoor dogs start whining when they hear the coyotes too close to us.


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

Coyotes can be a huge problem and will absolutely kill goats if given the opportunity. I've had it happen. Had a Nigerian Dwarf doe out of the pen one evening. She was super wild and I had a hard time catching her. After spending a good amount of time trying to get her, I decided to go in for the night and leave her out. I figured she would be fine and I could get some sleep and get her in the morning. Well when I came out the next morning, she had been killed and completely eaten. Pretty much just bones left over.  I've also lost enormous amounts of chickens to coyotes and numerous cats and small dogs. I've also had kids go missing. My parents lost two Jack Russells a couple years ago to coyotes. There was also one early evening, we were sitting on the back porch chatting and had two different Jack Russells just hanging out and playing around the house in the yard. I heard a squealing and look over to see a young coyote trying to take off with one of the dogs. Just feet from the house. Luckily the other dog got in there and grabbed it by the throat while I screamed at this coyote and ran over there. It dropped the other dog and took off. Coyotes are killing machines and if they are hungry or protecting pups or territory, they'll kill whatever they can get to. 

The best way to keep your goats safe is to invest in tall, secure fencing. If you can lock them up in a barn at night, sometimes that's even better. I now have two Pyrenees dogs that patrol and I'm not seeing any losses anymore. I also was able to wipe out five coyotes after my one doe was killed. 

They are dangerous animals and I have to disagree with a couple of the comments here. You definitely DO need to worry about them if you have goats, chickens, cats, medium/small dogs, or other smaller animals.


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## 2appsloosa (Apr 12, 2016)

My friend lost a lot of babies before she got a guard dog. Since then she never lost another. They say they are really bad during kidding when they smell blood and discarded placentas. I have a Great Pyrenees and so far have not had any problems. We do have them here. There are people that go to Georgia and purchase them and sneak them back into Fl to put in Dog Pens for hunting and they escape and multiply so we do have a lot of them.


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## odieclark (Jan 21, 2016)

All very interesting. Saltey has an int resting situation-and plausible! 

Actually, salt situation is similar to by our hens at our house! So. Our hens free range during the day and at this house I have not lost any hens! Funny thing is a pair of bald eagles have a nest in a tree above the coop!. Hmmm. Very interesting . 

However, all things considered -I think all of us can agree that we want to keep
Ourselves, pets, kids, goats, hens, &/or even c safe if at all possible!!! Doing what we are able, can afford, & learn about to keep them safe is what we all try to do! Just. Ecause I never had the pro Ken with the eagle doesn't mean I will never have a problem-so I do keep that in mind


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## ShireRidgeFarm (Sep 24, 2015)

The coyotes in my area are some of the more aggressive I think. My understanding is that when this area used to be farm land all the farmers drove the wolves and coyotes away. Then, as the land was retaken by the forest the coyotes from out west started moving back in - and along the way they interbred with wolves making them larger and more organized than the original coyote strains. 

We have fortunately never lost anything to coyote attacks, but from the beginning we've taken precautions with several layers of fencing, including barbed wire and electric, and a livestock guardian donkey. 

I've been hearing their howls a lot lately - quite an eerie sound indeed! There's just something unsettling about hearing the calls of a creature that would gladly kill and eat you.


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