Engadine farmers Kevin and Andrea Kalnbach lost 21 sheep to coyotes on July 30 that were in an 18-acre pasture surrounded by what was supposed to be a predator proof fence. Coyotes gained access to the pasture through a hole in the fence. The carcasses of eight sheep were found and 13 were missing out of their flock of 123 animals.
There was tall grass in the field, so it’s possible some dead sheep could have been missed during a search by DNR personnel.
“We walked through the entire field to look for more dead animals and didn’t find any,” DNR wildlife biologist Kristie Sitar from the Newberry office wrote in a report about the incident, “but it is conceivable that there could be more in the tall grass that we missed. We also walked in the woods behind the fencing looking for dead sheep (there was wool on one spot on the fencing that had been spread open widely) and didn’t find anything additional.”
The dead sheep included six lambs estimated to weigh 50 pounds each and two ewes with estimated weights of 135 pounds each. One of the ewes had been killed a couple of days earlier and was starting to decompose. The weather had been hot and may have contributed to the death of the second ewe.
“One ewe was dead in the immediate vicinity of the dead lambs,” Sitar wrote, “but had no bite marks on her. It had been an incredibly hot day and night and I suspect that she succumbed to the heat and running from the predators. She was freshly dead and died at the same time as the lambs.
“The second ewe also found on the same day, appears to have been dead for about 2 days. This timing appears to match with the farmers’ report of the sheep acting strangely 2 days prior to 7/30/24. She was severely decomposed from the intense heat and I was not able to see tooth marks on her. I was able to skin the neck and see the hemorrhaging present. I believe she was killed in an initial attack 2 days prior and not eaten due to sheep being all worked up.”
Sitar is confident that coyotes were responsible for the attack on the sheep.
“We skinned all of the dead sheep in the pertinent locations and verified coyote tooth marks (in spacing and tooth diameter size) on all lambs. Bites were to the head and neck region. Hemorrhaging was substantial at these locations. Only 2 lambs were fed upon and the muscle was eaten in its entirety. One lamb had fully intact, very fragile ribs and the other had chewed-on ribs.”
She added that no wolf sign was found anywhere.
The Kalnbachs were in the sheep pasture most of the day on July 29, worming the sheep, according to Andrea. She said the last check on the sheep was at 11 p.m. They were back to the pasture at 7:30 a.m. on the 30th and found the dead sheep. Their arrival that morning may have scared the coyotes away.
The Kalnbach’s house is 1.5 miles from the sheep pasture. Andrea said their neighbors heard what was probably the start of the attack on their herd of sheep between 3 and 4 a.m. on the 30th.
“We have sheep losses every year,” Andrea commented. “We expect some losses. But this was literally a massacre. We’ve never had anything like this happen before. We hear howling every night. Sometimes, it’s wolves. Sometimes, it’s coyotes.
“The last confirmed wolf kills we had was in 2009. We had two great Pyrenees dogs to protect our flock and they did a good job, but they got old and died.”
The Kalnbachs are concerned that they will only be compensated for the sheep that were found dead and not the animals that are missing. They are also concerned about not being compensated for the true value of the sheep that were lost. Their sheep have superior genetics.
