# pigs and coyotes?



## cathleenc

We just moved to the unincorporated 'burb fringes.... one acre lot, backs to cornfield and train track beyond that. Lots of coyotes out there howling at night, one seen in our backyard before we got our dogs here.

Plans are to perimeter fence the back yard and put the pigs (currently a pair of 7 month american guinea hogs) into some electric net fencing with a calf hut for shelter. But they might move into a large dog kennel at first.

When these two move to the freezer we're hoping to replace them with another pair of piglets, maybe more agh or perhaps berks.

Could the coyotes be a problem? Would they take on a pair of 100 lb pigs? What about piglets? Does 4' electric net fencing stop coyotes?

Our dogs are inside dogs, btw, not out to guard the pigs.

thanks!


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## Nicole Irene

I know coyotes could easily hop a 4 foot fence. I heard (??) they don't like pigs. I would verify that, though! Never had a problem here with them.


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## mekasmom

I have no idea what an American Guinea Hog is? But if we are talking full size pigs like hamps or yorks, landshires, etc..... You usually have no problems with coyotes. The hogs might kill one and eat it if they could get a hold of it, but it would be more unusual for it to happen the other way around unless there were lots of coyotes and very few pigs. My husband ran a confinement with thousands of hogs in pens all around with coyotes all over the place. No issues whatsoever, not even with the feeders. Hogs will kill anything they can get a hold of and eat it though, especially if there is a group of them.


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## Pops2

even a pack would have a tough time taking down a good sized hog w/o you & your dogs coming to help. but a small shoat weiner sized they could take down before you could stop them.


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## Sharedspirit

We have a coyote problem here right now. Neighbors lost several calves, but they won't go near our hogs. Our sow would tear a coyote apart, but a pack of them? I don't know. It would be a pretty brutal fight. I would be more concerned if we just had little ones.


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## cathleenc

AGH hogs seem pretty docile to me..... they let the chickens perch on their heads and eat, with them, out of their feeders. Have not seen them attack any critter nor show any aggressiveness.

What about the electric fencing? Do coyotes obey those?


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## Curtis B

I have a duroc/landrace sow, that will let chickens/my dd sit/sleep on/with her. She is very friendly, and extremely docile. However you do something to her she doesn't like (like a 40 cc shot of penG) or mess with her babies, watch out.


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## Rogo

Coyotes generally go for the newborn/young critters. They're a smart specie and plan their attacks. Some lure the older critters away from the young and others go in to get the young. 

No problems with any of my stock due to my livestock guardian dogs. Many years ago I lost a chicken to a hawk, but that's the only bird I've lost.

My setup is different than some I've seen here. I have no stalls, no corrals, no pens. All species roam free on the acreage within the perimeter fence. I haven't yet had a need for electric fencing. The pig's don't dig out. I used to raise the large farm hogs, but now raise the little guys - Asian Heirloom Hogs. AKA Potbelly pigs. Pork is pork! -G-


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## olivehill

Coyotes only obey electric fencing if they can't figure out how to get over/under/around it. They can easily jump 4' so no, your netting is no guarantee they'll stay out. 

Whether or not they'll be a problem for you personally depends largely on the specific circumstances -- most important of those is the predator density relative to the food supply. If they can eat something easier, they'll likely leave your pigs alone. If they're hungry, those porkers might look pretty tasty and be hard to turn down even if it is a challenge. 

Here, we have lots of coyotes but we also have lots of land and plenty of small wildlife to keep them busy. They're shy of humans for the most part and steer clear if they can help it. We have AGH on pasture and wooded lots and have no problem whatsoever. We run the whole herd together so there are large and small alike. I would not however turn out only small pigs. That's just dangling the steak in front of their nose, imo. 

Now, that said coyotes even 50 miles away exhibit significantly different behavior patterns as a result of environment and have been known to take even domestic dogs as prey in that area. 

So I suppose my advice is to keep the small ones up close to the house if you don't have adults to turn them out with regardless of the coyotes in your area. Once they get a little size on them, unless your coyotes are particularly crowded and hungry (which is possible given you're on the edge of the burbs -- you have to determine that) they should be fine.


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## olivehill

mekas said:


> I have no idea what an American Guinea Hog is? But if we are talking full size pigs like hamps or yorks, landshires, etc....





> even a pack would have a tough time taking down a good sized hog w/o you & your dogs coming to help. but a small shoat weiner sized they could take down before you could stop them.


http://www.guineahogs.org

These are not full sized hogs.


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## highlands

Yes, coyotes can be a problem for pigs even up to 100 lbs. The coyotes work as teams. We have a lot of predator pressure including coyotes. We have guardian herding dogs. They eat coyotes, literally. This keeps the problem down. The coyotes move on to safer territory. We have a whole pack of LGH dogs which is what it takes - one dog isn't enough.

If you can't have protection then I would suggest locking the pigs up securely at night with very good electric on the outside to keep predators from trying to get in.

Good luck,

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
Pastured Pigs, Sheep & Kids
in the mountains of Vermont
Read about our on-farm butcher shop project:
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/butchershop
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/csa


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## bruceki

We've had a fair bit of coyote presence with the pigs, and have had no problems. Sheep, who are on the same pasture, get their lambs taken, likewise poultry. I wouldn't worry too much about the pigs. 

pics and story of the most recent coyote I've shot

Bruce / ebeyfarm.blogspot.com


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## STxHeritagePork

Best investment we have made to date was the purchase of three guard dogs (half Anatolian Sheppard half Great Pyrenees). They are always with the pigs and always watching out for them. No more problems with any type of predators.


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## Catalytic

bruceki said:


> We've had a fair bit of coyote presence with the pigs, and have had no problems. Sheep, who are on the same pasture, get their lambs taken, likewise poultry. I wouldn't worry too much about the pigs.
> 
> pics and story of the most recent coyote I've shot
> 
> Bruce / ebeyfarm.blogspot.com


Shame on you Bruce! You made Rebecca take her blog down :Bawling: I wanted to go read those posts you linked...


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## bruceki

Rebecca went out of business not too long after our exchange. You can read my writeup of her business here if you'd like, or find her currrent blog here. 

Bruce / ebeyfarm.blogspot.com


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## Catalytic

bruceki said:


> Rebecca went out of business not too long after our exchange. You can read my writeup of her business here if you'd like, or find her currrent blog here.
> 
> Bruce / ebeyfarm.blogspot.com


Jim seems really mad, silly guy. Doesn't he know this is the USA and we're all entitled to our opinions, even if he doesn't like them? Idjit. I thought it was quite the thought provoking post, well thought out and written :clap:


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## FrankRichards

bruceki said:


> We've had a fair bit of coyote presence with the pigs, and have had no problems. Sheep, who are on the same pasture, get their lambs taken, likewise poultry. I wouldn't worry too much about the pigs.


I suggest you're effectively using the sheep as sacrificial coyote food. It would be a really dumb coyote that would attack a 400lb brood sow instead of a 150 lb ewe. It also depends on the coyote pressure. Two years ago we lost 6 piglets (and a tail) to coyotes in one night. Fish and Game counted 7 dead coyotes the next morning. The sheep were pastured with a Percheron team and a horned cow and were left alone.

We now have three big white dogs and don't lose stock any more. We started with one, but she was clearly not happy, constantly checking in with the boar and the Percheron gelding. Three seems to handle it.


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## HeritagePigs

When we moved onto our farm the coyotes would literally be in our back yard. There were a few chicken houses (I really hate those things) nearby and they kept the coyote population very healthy. The coyotes had worn a path through my woods, across my back pasture and the back fence and to the chicken houses. We lost several chickens when they would stop for a snack. 

But, they never bothered the hogs or piglets (at that time we only had a few). I never saw coyotes near the hogs even though the piglets seemed like easy pickings. (On pasture with only a few internal fences).

There came a time when I brought a new boar to the farm and needed to quarantine him (Donald, for Michelle's info). I didn't have a quarantine pen available so I made one along the back fence. I didn't plan it but his pen was right over the coyote path.

That night I woke to the most horrific coyote calls I had ever heard! We were used to their howling but this was something completely different. Running across the pasture toward the sound, with my shotgun over my back, the screams led me to where I had penned the boar. When I arrived I found a half dozen coyotes, about 40 feet on the other side of his pen, jumping, running and literally screaming!

Apparently they were making their nightly run to the chicken houses and found this 400 lb. boar in their path and didn't know what to make of it. A couple of shotgun blasts scared them away.

That experience, along with knowing that the coyotes had never attacked any hogs or piglets on pasture, led me to understand that coyotes are either afraid of hogs or hogs just are too risky for them to attack (especially with lots of chickens around). So I started rotating the hog paddocks around the farm perimeter, following the coyote's traditional paths. Within a few months I stopped seeing any coyotes on my farm despite seeing and hearing them on my neighbor's farms.

Years later the coyotes still avoid having to cross our farm. Right now I have enough hog herds to have them present around most of the farm.

ADDED: We still hear coyotes howl near our farm. When I go out to check, the hogs and piglets are usually asleep. And, thankfully, they are tearing down those horrible chicken houses.


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## Farmerga

We had something like what happen to Brian. We have some of our boars in a pasture in front of our house. One of my dogs came into season and it was more than the yotes could take. We heard this sort of scared screaming and ran down to see a glimpse of the butt end of a yote running away. 

A few months prior to this a couple of stray dogs got into our pig pen with one of these boars and a few sows. I was at work and my father heard the same type of screaming. He got outside just in time to see the boar launch one of the dogs into the air. He said that the dog was walking like he had a few broken bones and some deep cuts, but, by the time he got to the sight of the fight, the dogs were gone, never to be seen again.


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## fordson major

there was a coyote claim this past spring, 4 bred sows. not sure if they were pure coyote or a x that did the deed but coyotes are not something to mess with!! on the other hand since we have let our large blacks out to roam the back pasture we have had very few incursions on the sheep flock!!


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## TedH71

That's why it takes a very smart dog (smarter than an average hog because tests show that hogs test above dogs on intelligence scale) to be able to herd and hunt them. Those dogs (catahoulas, blackmouth cur, mountain cur, blue lacy, etc) often are high energy dogs that know how to open doors, refrigerator doors,etc....they can be pets but require a lot of mental and physical exercise plus preferably hog hunting time...they can also herd feral cattle.


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## HardBall

My hog farm backs right up to a wildlife refuge where coyotes are right at the fence line. We hace 3 horses that surround the pigs, coyotes hate horses and they stay away from the pigs because of it.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE

my grandfather had pigs when i was a kid , he pulls up to the farm and sees a pack of wild 7 wild dogs in the pig pen they are attacking the pigs when done he had shot all seven dogs he lost some of the pigs don't recall how many to injuries.

a pack can take large animals , and packs are smart often running their prey to death first 
yes it is certainly possible that they could ,an over night enclosure may be a good idea , but if there are other easier marks they will generally take them they don't want to work extra hard for a meal.

we have a local sheep farm that leaves extra natural space for rabbits, wood chuck and other small mammals to live as well as coyotes she has not ever shot or trapped a yote and has no problems with them , she also brings her flock in every night to close pasture and runs dogs.


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## whatrset

I can't help but share and old bumper sticker that my grandfather, a sheep and hog grower, had on his old truck. "Eat Mutton-10,000 Coyotes Can't be Wrong." 

That said, I don't think he ever lost a hog, of course he was raising feral swine under a hamshire boar, and those babies were meeeeeeaaannn. And it seemed that the sheep could get 5 feet from the nite pen and get eaten.

Oh, and as far as the e-fence is concerned, it works great on yotes in our area, they wont even cross a single strand fence to get to an easy meal.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE

HardBall said:


> My hog farm backs right up to a wildlife refuge where coyotes are right at the fence line. We hace 3 horses that surround the pigs, coyotes hate horses and they stay away from the pigs because of it.


we had a problem with a pack coyotes chasing horses right thru fences 2 winters ago just down the road a bit , they would run them back and forth across the state highway. while the deputy was waiting for the rendering truck and wrecker for the first horse hit a second was hit about a quarter mile down the road the horses owner had reported that his horses were out 2 days before and the car horse collisions. that should give you some idea of how long a pack can run an animal to death. they can take turns it only takes 2-3 at a time to keep the animal moving and stressed it wears them down.

the snow was over 2 feet deep at the time

it all depends how hungry they are.


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