Thank you for such great suggestions. It was a rough night last night............didn't sleep much. I know it will just take some getting used to, and good management to learn how to deal with this problem. Predators are all over, back in the old house we had a pack of wolves howling close by, and one lone wolf that ran through between us and the neighbor. We also had a couple young bear run through the year before that, so I know the predators were there. The only difference is that our house and buildings were well out in the open farm fields, and not close to the woods at all. We did have coyotes there too, and I know they came up into the fields, but don't know how close they came. I'm sure they were around, and I just didn't realize it.
They also might be wild dog packs that also like to howl and that send shivers up my spine something awful. Could also be hybreds of some kind.
My old neighbor works for the DNR, and he and I had a couple great conversations about this area. He said there are wolves up here, but to date the couple packs that are here have not been causing issues. The woods are so vast over here, that they pretty much stay to themselves. Now, with that in mind, the first time Dave brought me here to see this house, on the trip back home, about an hour from here, we both saw a lone wolf running along the road. There was no mistake that it was a wolf! My ever doubting husband saw it too! And my first thought was hybred because my DNR neighbor said that wolves prefer not to be seen, and when out in the open, they will run from point A to point B to get out of the open as fast as they can. This guy was taking his time, and my neighbor thought hybred as well.
The best thing we did was to build the barn less than 50 feet from my back door.
I can see stuff going on from my windows and also I can see every field. We build it there for that purpose.
The way we are situated on this 10 acres will not allow me to put the barn right behind our house. Believe me..........I really wish I could, we have a beautiful 3 panel patio door in back here that would be perfect for gazing at the minis! The problem is that we are only about 50 feet from the woods in back, and on top of that, the woods is mainly an oak tree woods. The trees are very young yet, and not yet producing acorns, but still, a barn is a permanent deal, and couldn't be moved down the road to easily. We are also located on a very hilly property.......as are most out in this west central WI area! Beautiful for sure, but doesn't leave much for flat land for building a barn on. The front of the property is to steep, the house sits on top of the hill, and in the front it goes down hill to the road. If we put a barn down there, it would be flooded in spring with snow thaw! The only options I have are off to the right of the home, and further back on edge of the property, or next to our garage where we'd have to haul in a small amount of fill to flatten it out. We're opting for next to the garage, and if we haul in the fill, we can put it where the front will be flush with the grarage, and I can see them and the fence from the kitchen window.
We've already established the type of fence we'll be building, which will be some type of field fence inside, with rail fence outside. We were going to go with cattle panels because they are more sturdy, but I have to wonder if coyotes can get through them??? Maybe not, I think 4"x4" would be to small. Our DNR neighbor suggested we also run 2 electric wire strands around the outside near the bottom. I have been giving some consideration to LGD's, but not being dog people, we don't know much about dogs. What would be the best type to get, and as someone mentioned, I understand 2 would be better than 1. I was also told to get a donkey, but would it better to get full size instead of miniature? Our barn plans will have to be redone then. And on top of that, would we have to deal with donkeys calling all night? That would not go over well with the couple neighbors we do have here I'm sure.
