Do foxes take lambs?

[Jameshenry]

We've had problems with foxes taking lambs over the years, last time was about 3 years ago , lovely big strong set of twins born around midnight, went out again at 2am and a fox had killed one, not taken it just bit it's neck, my father and granfer used to believe a vixen rearing cubs would kill a lamb and just take the blood from the neck wound, we've had several like that over the years, i suppose it would be a quick source of energy, some farms seem to suffer with fox problems more than others, i don't tend to go after foxes unless they start causing a problem

 

[oowee]

I have watched two either end of a ewe in labour. Biting face and back end as lamb is born. Ewe and lamb both dead as a result.

 

[Border]

Emphatically No, neither do white tailed sea eagles, golden eagles or badgers......... If you say this enough times it may be true

 

[Longstrider]

Damned right they take lambs. Not all foxes will do it, but enough of them do for it to be a major problem. It's a little like the situation they used to have with man-eater lions .. once they start they cotton on to the fact that it's an easy source of a good quantity of good meat and only one thing stops them from doing it again.
The big old vixen I saw nosing around the sheep farm last Friday was probably a perfect candidate for the crime. I shall return this evening to make sure she hasn't managed to get out of the ditch she ended up up-side-down in in order to be a nuisance again

 

[Gillyb]

Here's a photo from last year, that a friend posted. Plenty of lamb takers in my part of the world.

 

[25 Sharps]

Just Wow!

 

[Lab trainer]

I’ve whiteness fox’s trying to separate 1 off 2 very young lambs from the ewe it was amazing working like bloody sheep dogs after a very quick off road dash in the landy we put a stop to it . Permanently.

 

[nick.308]

Lambing a flock of 800 ewes outside we usually lose a few lambs to foxes. But Corvids and black backed gulls are the worst for us. They peck out tongues/ anus /intestines and with one peck can break through the soft skull of a lamb and kill it in one blow. Usually they just leave enough damage that the lamb need euthanising before were on the scene. Quite demoralising.
We have a one eyed ewe that lost its eye to a raven last weekend whilst in labour. They live about 40 years so I think they are a much bigger problem than foxes because they work together as look outs and are highly intelligent.

 

[Klenchblaize]

Yes and there’s nothing Mills & Boon about it for the owners of said bundles of April joy.

Finally caught up with this lamb-killing vixen and writing this as I settle in for a possibly long wait until the cubs get wrestles and make an appearance at the den door:

K

 

[imnotrucknut]

I've heard many people say they do but as one who has grown up around sheep farms I've never heard any local farmer complaining that they have lost lambs to fox's. Yes plenty of hens taken but has anyone here actually had experience of this happening or witnessed this themselves?

Do bears **** in the woods

 

[landkeeper]

I've heard many people say they do but as one who has grown up around sheep farms I've never heard any local farmer complaining that they have lost lambs to fox's. Yes plenty of hens taken but has anyone here actually had experience of this happening or witnessed this themselves?

Yes umpteen instances of it , a lot of sheep are lambed indoors and a several days old when put out foxes are less of a threat to these , but sheep lambing outdoors are a different proposition completely , ewes having multiple births are an easy target , and once a fox works out lambs are an easy target its game on .
I was called upon to help out with ewes lambing out in april several lambs born during daylight were vanishing each night , i shot 18 foxes in and around the lambing fields over maybe a week with the lamp still ambs were being taken
One evening i went over early and driving into the farm spotted a fox on the edge of woodland maybe 1/2 mile from the lambing fields i shot it and on inspection it was a big old thin dog with only one or two teeth left , the lamb disapearances stopped that night
Another time lambs being taken regularly from another outdoor lambing flock saw us doing earths local to the farm , we found one with literally dozens of partially eaten and complete carcasses of lambs scattered around it .
Admittedly foxes pick up dead and dying lambs but 100% they will take and kill newborn lambs that otherwise would be fine if not predated on

 

[Klenchblaize]

They are as crafty as a critter with a bushy red tail and well able to determine when a ewe is in trouble with twins and get in & out with their prize faster than you can say 250 Klenchblaize or Creedmoor.

K

 

[Overlay]

For the past 6 seasons on the trot I’ve been out on the same farm that has the multiple birth ewes in a proper brick very large lambing shed with the singles out on the turf, with the vents six feet off the ground as soon as dusk descends so do the foxes, if you miss one going in via the two gates or the vents next time you see it again it’s carrying a lamb, they get shot as they walk through the singles and head for the shed for easy pickings

I’ve been out on this particular farm 2 months before lambing to get the numbers down and hardly see a fox, lambing time it’s like a door has been opened letting them loose they would easily lose 10 a night if you left them to their own devices
ive shot them over piglets, turkeys and chickens but they do like lambs more so

 

[IrishStalker]

they 100 percent do take lambs found a few lambs out side an earth one day,

 

[Millerich]

A fox will eat anything it can get in its mouth. New born lambs are no problem to a fox. Also domestic pet cats too. They may not all take on the local cat population, but some will and have perfected it. Roe kids too are no problem to a Fox, seen this a few times over the years. Also Foxes seem to be getting a lot bigger these days. Dog Foxes over 25 to 30lbs are not that uncommon these days.

Our most memorable response to a vaccine reminder, was a letter from a client saying “Tiddles won’t be coming for her booster this year, on account of being eaten by a fox”.

 

[User00036]

There is another side to this problem, & it is far more troubling than losing the odd lamb. It is the spread of Neosporosis that worries me. Foxes & Dogs are addicted to afterbirth, they will travel from a long way away to get it. Neosporosis is caused by infection with the protozoa Neospora caninum. Neospora has been found world-wide and in many species other than cattle. Currently abortion due to Neospora has been shown in cattle, sheep and dogs. The dog and other canids (such as foxes) are the definitive host. That is they are the animals in which the parasite becomes sexually mature and reproduces. Dogs & fox poo on your meadow is lethal to an uninfected herd, the only remedy is to cull mother & calf. I had to put signs up warning ramblers to deal with their dogs poo, & deal with the foxes. Fortunately we were able to nip this problem in the bud (so to speak) but we did have to cull 3 pedigree cows & calves. So indirectly foxes & dogs can kill full grown Cows.

 

[BenBhoy]

Top of my street there is a paddock with 92 ewes currently lambing, they lost seven last night just to a moderate frost.

Sounds like pisś poor shepherding.

 

[User00025]

Sounds like pisś poor shepherding.

Funny one that I've never seen lambs lost to frost, even on the hill. Freezing rain yes but not frost. Had nights when Shepherd two keepers and three wives out gathering lambs in due to freezing rain and still lost lambs as it turned to ice on them. They stand cold well usually but ain't happy about too much wet.

 

[BenBhoy]

Yep. I've lambed charollais sired even outdoor, if it dry & mother got half about her then not a problem. Persistent rain, uh uh.

 

[Sonicdmb73]

But anyone who has farmed sheep knows that a sheep’s lifetime ambition is to roll over and die. On the most awkward part of the farm to recover a corpse from.
Ours seemed to like the beck bottom fecking things.