Wiley - The Coyote

 When we got our sheep this past August, our first concern was predators.  SweetLips, the llama, did not cooperate in moving with the sheep as their protector.  We had to come up with an alternative.   So, we bought a donkey.  If the donkey did not work, we would try a guard dog - one of those big, white Pyrenees.  So far, dog is not required.

While looking out across the farm to the back pasture, I noticed an animal walking - smaller than a deer, larger than a turkey, but what? I could not make any positive identification with my 'naked' eyes.

I called Glenn to take a look, but he needed to retrieve the binoculars.  I put my camera on zoom and took a quick shot - my zoom is not great for real distance photos, but once I have the picture, I can zoom it in even more. 

Unfortunately, the zoom produced a good enough image to reveal a coyote - walking away from the flerd.  But, was the coyote in with the flerd assassinating a sheep?  Or, even worse, several sheep?

Glenn had heard some braying moments before, but did not think much of it even though JJ is not normally vocal.  JJ, our donkey, will bray when the flerd is moved to a new pasture as she wants to be first through the gate.  She certainly lets her intentions be known.  But, Glenn was not moving the flerd, so he should have taken notice.  He did not.

I insisted that Glenn go down and check the sheep.  I did not want to make any gruesome discovery.  He did.  Glenn came back with good news - sheep well.

We have to assume JJ did her job and frightened the coyote away.  But, we will still need to be vigilant, as much as we can, for the safety of our sheep.