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dragonlady7via http://ift.tt/28W7wX5:
Middle-little sister lived in suburban Colorado for a couple of years and for some of that time, had the care of a tiny dog. (Maybe a shih tzu or something?) She got good at growling at coyotes to deter them.
At the farm, the coyotes are appropriately-behaved. They are shy, stay in the wilderness, and generally don’t bother pets. They sometimes would prey on the former farmer’s cattle– calves were sometimes found that the coyotes had taken, especially, and that was incredibly annoying but also hard to deter.
But they don’t bother the pigs, and don’t come close enough to bother the chickens– probably because both sets of animals are usually surrounded by electrified flexi-net, not to keep them in particularly but to deter predators.
Occasionally a hawk gets a chicken. Sometimes coyotes get a turkey, which is expensive and annoying. But it happens.
Nature will nature, and it’s a lot more appropriate when there’s enough room. If the neighboring property goes for development, as much of the surrounding area has, it will get more difficult. The farm was deliberately preserved by funding from a number of organizations including the state, partly because of this– wild animals need fairly wild areas in which to live, or they’ll just be nuisances. As it is, the farm is a crucial habitat for a brown trout spawning area, and being an organic farm is really important for a lot of native flora and fauna to keep their ranges. If you climb to the farm’s highest hill and look around, it’s McMansions with chemically-treated lawns as far as the eye can see, except for the 150 acres of the farm, and the additional 100 acres they lease from the aging neighbor whose children will certainly sell it for subdivisions when he dies.
But the farm is permanently zoned agricultural, at least.
Middle-little sister lived in suburban Colorado for a couple of years and for some of that time, had the care of a tiny dog. (Maybe a shih tzu or something?) She got good at growling at coyotes to deter them.
At the farm, the coyotes are appropriately-behaved. They are shy, stay in the wilderness, and generally don’t bother pets. They sometimes would prey on the former farmer’s cattle– calves were sometimes found that the coyotes had taken, especially, and that was incredibly annoying but also hard to deter.
But they don’t bother the pigs, and don’t come close enough to bother the chickens– probably because both sets of animals are usually surrounded by electrified flexi-net, not to keep them in particularly but to deter predators.
Occasionally a hawk gets a chicken. Sometimes coyotes get a turkey, which is expensive and annoying. But it happens.
Nature will nature, and it’s a lot more appropriate when there’s enough room. If the neighboring property goes for development, as much of the surrounding area has, it will get more difficult. The farm was deliberately preserved by funding from a number of organizations including the state, partly because of this– wild animals need fairly wild areas in which to live, or they’ll just be nuisances. As it is, the farm is a crucial habitat for a brown trout spawning area, and being an organic farm is really important for a lot of native flora and fauna to keep their ranges. If you climb to the farm’s highest hill and look around, it’s McMansions with chemically-treated lawns as far as the eye can see, except for the 150 acres of the farm, and the additional 100 acres they lease from the aging neighbor whose children will certainly sell it for subdivisions when he dies.
But the farm is permanently zoned agricultural, at least.
