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Post by lonecowhand on Jan 28, 2015 17:50:27 GMT
Out here we've got every sort of predator, Four legs,two legs and wings. If it eats animals , we got 'em!
On the edge of a river basin with thousands of acres of wild state land, there's enough wild game to support a growing population of mountain lion, coyote, bear, bobcat, and both Bald and Golden Eagles. On the domestic side, we must have poachers, rustlers and the occasional feral dog pack.
Are these little horned Dexters able to defend themselves?
The horses on my property have been there for years, with no issues, but people don't eat those, and they are a bit larger than a Dexter!
I have noted how jamshundred Judy's photo of her horned Dexters look impressively able to defend themselves. (on the Gallery of Horns)
I would not want to be at the pointy end!
I wonder if any of you have opinions on ,or heard of Dexter Defense in action?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2015 19:21:25 GMT
wild predators rarely go after domestic cattle. On your list feral dogs would be the biggest concern. In some areas they can be real problems and they will go after calves and chase cows. Not so much an issue around here. We have enough farms that dogs dont get a chance to chase cattle twice. The 3s's you know. Bobcat and coyotes are no issue. However I have heard bad things about coydogs. We have coyotes all over the place. They are just not an issue. Dexters would stand no chance against a mountain Lion. But mountain lions just dont go after cattle. Not that one never has but generally just not in there nature.
My dexters will go after house cats. They try to stomp them. Never seen one actually get a cat though. Sometimes young calves like to chase cats.
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Post by lakeportfarms on Jan 28, 2015 20:46:25 GMT
We had some kind of large animal, either a cougar or bobcat, possibly a bear, go after one of our shortie bull calves once. We didn't see it, but he had quite a swipe across the face with some big scratches. He was only a year or so old at the time, and he was dehorned, but I am speculating he charged it because it was on his face and not his behind.
Many coyotes here, and we've never had a problem, they mostly go after small game. A few days ago there was a report of an attack on a horse by a pack of coyotes about 75 miles from us, but it was a pretty old horse and there are some questions about the accuracy of the reported attack. From my understanding there are also some feral hogs running around, but I've never seen any evidence of them.
You just need to get a large herd so they'll intimidate anything that happens upon your pasture :-)
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Post by lonecowhand on Jan 28, 2015 22:30:08 GMT
I like the way you think, Hans.
And Mike, What're the 3s's? Funny on the cat-stompin', trying to save milk!
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Post by lakeportfarms on Jan 29, 2015 0:29:50 GMT
Bill,
Shoot, Shovel, Shut up
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Post by genebo on Jan 29, 2015 2:13:43 GMT
I live next to a 600 acre woodland that is leased by a hunt club. They tell me that there are black bears and a large contingent of coyotes in there. None have ever harmed one of my horned Dexters.
Coyotes and all of the smaller predators regularly kill chickens, guineas and ducks. None have harmed a horned Dexter.
Dogs are the only ones that have given me a problem. They have come into my pasture and attacked a young steer that didn't have horns yet, and a week old calf. The Dexter herd assumed a defensive formation, horns out. The two that were separated from the herd were in danger. I had to shoot the dogs.
I have seen evidence of large bobcats, but have seen no damage to any cattle from them.
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Post by cascade on Jan 29, 2015 6:05:35 GMT
We live on the edge of a 64,000 acre National Wilderness Area within the 1 million acre Mt. Hood National Forrest. We have elk, deer, bear, cougar and tons of coyotes and lynx and bobcats. Our Dexter herd of about 40 are all polled (except we now have 1 horned young cow). We've never had a problem with predation, except with our poultry. I've seen the Dexter herd chase off coyotes. The herd is pretty darn intimidating. When the herd is running toward the predator, the predator doesn't wait to see if the herd has horns or not before it takes off running away.
Horns might come in handy if a cow was isolated by herself with a calf, and was surrounded by 3 attacking wolves, but luckily we don't yet have wolf-packs in this part of Oregon yet.
When I hear of someone wanting Llamas to scare off predators, I tell them to get a couple of Dexters.
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Post by Donlin Stud on Jan 29, 2015 21:20:01 GMT
Oh Wow. Mountain Lions, Cougar, Bears, wolves.................Not growing up with these predators I would be on night watch every night or built a fort to put the Dexs into  Leave me with the Eastern Brown and Tiger snakes – Go the Guinea Fowl ! And thank you for the longest fence in the world – the dingo fence which keeps that potential issue on the other side of the country. I complain about snakes no more ! Dogs in all rural areas are quickly dealt with. Its not against the law to shoot and shovel (most dont shovel but hang on fences) any size canine found on one’s property, with or without reason, with or without a collar’n’tag. An over the rise neighbour shot a Merema who was seen just crossing a paddock full of sheep. The owner of the dog said the dog was returning from chasing down a fox. The neighbour told the owner he should have been with the dog. It ended there as the law is very clear. This is Australia, the country that grew up on the sheep's back afterall. |
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Post by lakeportfarms on Jan 30, 2015 12:19:31 GMT
I can handle any of the big things that I can see coming at me, but I could NEVER live in a warmer climate with those rattlesnakes! They scare the snot out of me! So as the wind whips the snow around today with well below zero temperatures, I feel much warmer inside knowing they can't survive here.
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Post by lonecowhand on Jan 30, 2015 17:32:29 GMT
Ha! That's funny Hans. It's actually hard to get a Rattlesnake to strike, even if you try to provoke them. They have a limited supply of venom and they conserve it, only using it in dire need; for self defense if absolutely necessary and bluster has failed, or for stunning their prey.
Apparently being color blind makes me able to see them much more clearly than normal sighted folks, because I am routinely pointing them out to fellow fly fishermen and hikers. When I see one, it is either trying to get out of the way as fast as it can, or is trying to remain hidden in it's favorite spot. If disturbed and allowed time, they will return to rest in that SAME
spot, so you'll know where to look for them as you return.
They travel as mated pairs following shortly behind in the same path, so should you see one on the move, there is a good chance that there is one following a few minutes behind, or has already passed by. So be aware.
So Hans, that's today's Edition of "All You Didn't want to know about Rattlesnakes" !
Happy Hiking, Bill
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Post by lakeportfarms on Jan 30, 2015 19:45:28 GMT
Bill, the "routinely pointing them out" statement about the snakes makes me shudder  When I was a little kid, my father and a good friend of his planned a hiking trip in the Porcupine Mountains, in the Western U.P. Both were pilots, and we flew up there, then got a cab or ride from the airport to the trailhead where we were dropped off. It was pouring rain, and apparently we were supposed to meet with a park ranger to get the keys to small cabins that they had along some of the trails, but the ranger didn't show up for some reason and couldn't be reached. Not wanting to disappoint a little 7 year old boy, they took off hiking in the rain toward the first cabin we were scheduled to stay at. We finally reached it, soaking wet and cold, and the door was padlocked with a hasp. My father's friend pulled out an axe and started chopping at the door. I really wasn't sure what was going on at the time, but I was thinking this isn't right, and was asking them if they should be doing that, they mentioned the ranger not giving them the keys and went back to chopping...so I walked around to see if there was another way in to the cabin. Of course it was closed up tight, but I did spot these HUGE, DEEP vertical gouges running down the log walls, all the way from the roof to the ground, and along the entire length of the walls. It took a few seconds to realize it was from the BEARS that populated the forest. So I made haste back to the front door and asked how much longer would it take to get that door open! Once inside, there was a nice pot bellied stove and we had a fire to dry out and something to eat. I didn't go to bed worried about the bears or the fact they had chopped the lock off the door though, because I probably fell asleep before my head hit the pillow. Though I love the U.P. of Michigan, there are some livestock farmers there that are having quite an issue with wolves. There was a farmer who lost over 200 of his herd over 5-6 years there, although from most accounts he wasn't on site very much, and did little to try to mitigate the issue by not removing carcasses and other things. The wolves would rotate around and always come back to his farm, because they knew it was easy prey. I believe he's now out of the cattle business. The State of Michigan paid some type of compensation for his losses over those years. Fortunately no wolves around our parts here! www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2015/01/wolf_attacks_on_livestock_and.html |
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Post by genebo on Jan 30, 2015 21:45:19 GMT
They tell me that there are no rattlesnakes near me. In 14 years, I've seen 4 copperhead moccasins. I killed 2, one got caught in the snake mesh around the chicken house and I missed one with the .22 pistol.
I regularly lose poultry to hawks and there is a pair of eagles that come here about every two months. They stay long enough to kill 2 or more chickens before moving on.
My pond is hunted by ospreys and herons, with the eagles taking their share. Once Babe came home to discover an eagle trying to fly away with a 3 pound bass. She managed to scare it with the car and it dropped the bass. Babe picked it up and threw it back in the water.
The osprey sits high up on a dead tree limb until it spots a fish it wants. It zooms down to the water and hits it head-on, then emerges from the water with a fish in its talons. It flies back into a tall tree to eat the fish.
The eagle soars above the pond, looking for a target. It swoops down in perfect timing and dips its toes into the water to hook a fish. Nothing gets wet but the toes. It flies away to eat it.
The most deadly predators on this farm are humans. Once a frustrated hunter who didn't get a kill shot an arrow through a duck, just for sport. Once I advertised some ducks for sale on craigslist. A woman called with all sorts of questions about the weight of the ducks. She asked for directions, but didn't show up. At least not that day. About a month later I locked 24 big Muscovey ducks in the hen house at night. Next morning, the hen house door was still closed, but when I opened it, there were only 6 ducks inside. No feathers or any sign of violence. 250 pounds of ducks had vanished without a trace. I figure they came prepared with cages and picked the ducks off of the roosts inside the hen house.
While it hasn't happened here, I read that some Dexters were rustled out west.
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Post by lonecowhand on Jan 30, 2015 22:02:49 GMT
I agree about the Two-legs, Gene, that's why I like the look of those intimidating black tipped white horns above the grasses!
Donlindexters: Donna, I didn't get that about the "worlds longest fence, dingo fence" What is that? Thanks Bill
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Post by Blessings Farms on Jan 30, 2015 23:03:32 GMT
My only statement is there is only type of snake DEAD !!
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Post by Donlin Stud on Feb 4, 2015 20:44:24 GMT
Donlindexters: Donna, I didn't get that about the "worlds longest fence, dingo fence" What is that? Thanks Bill Hi Bill Heres a link to Wikipedia re the Dingo fence en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dingo_FenceWe are located in the south east of NSW, an eastern state where Kangaroos, Rabbits and now Deer are 'protected' from the top predator because of the fence so numbers are significantly large. If you click on the aussie map, you will see where Canberra is - we are an hour's drive north east from there There isnt a week that goes past that I dont hit the brakes hard to avoid a Deer, and the Roo's flight response is really annoying but at least they are creatures of habit so I know which areas to slow down for them. I have been meaning to take photos when arriving home of an afternoon in spring or autumn when approximately 50-60 kangaroos are grazing in the front of our property - you'd think we were breeding them  |
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Post by lonecowhand on Feb 4, 2015 21:04:03 GMT
I had No idea! That is really impressive, especially that they did it so long ago!
Yes, we'd all appreciate a photo of your Roo herd!
Bill
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Post by genebo on Feb 5, 2015 0:05:20 GMT
A 2002 movie was made about it, entitled "Rabbit-Proof Fence". You can watch it on-line, 90 minutes: www.veoh.com/watch/v208179532FWappwrIt is really a nice movie. I enjoyed watching it when it showed on television. My connection is too slow to enjoy it on-line. |
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Post by Donlin Stud on Feb 5, 2015 1:50:54 GMT
I forgot about that movie Genebo but yes, it certainly shows the fence as well as an inside look at early Australia and provides yet another reason why many of 'us' would like to shake off our British ancestory. |
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When I was a little kid, my father and a good friend of his planned a hiking trip in the Porcupine Mountains, in the Western U.P. Both were pilots, and we flew up there, then got a cab or ride from the airport to the trailhead where we were dropped off. It was pouring rain, and apparently we were supposed to meet with a park ranger to get the keys to small cabins that they had along some of the trails, but the ranger didn't show up for some reason and couldn't be reached. Not wanting to disappoint a little 7 year old boy, they took off hiking in the rain toward the first cabin we were scheduled to stay at. We finally reached it, soaking wet and cold, and the door was padlocked with a hasp. My father's friend pulled out an axe and started chopping at the door. I really wasn't sure what was going on at the time, but I was thinking this isn't right, and was asking them if they should be doing that, they mentioned the ranger not giving them the keys and went back to chopping...so I walked around to see if there was another way in to the cabin. Of course it was closed up tight, but I did spot these HUGE, DEEP vertical gouges running down the log walls, all the way from the roof to the ground, and along the entire length of the walls. It took a few seconds to realize it was from the BEARS that populated the forest. So I made haste back to the front door and asked how much longer would it take to get that door open! Once inside, there was a nice pot bellied stove and we had a fire to dry out and something to eat. I didn't go to bed worried about the bears or the fact they had chopped the lock off the door though, because I probably fell asleep before my head hit the pillow.