I think something rather scary went through my property early this morning. I was awakened by my awesomely protective rooster, Duncan, crowing his head off. He normally only crows a few times at sunrise.
I got up and went outside with a bucket of warm water as I usually do when the temp goes below freezing. My doe, Juniper, usually runs to the gate because she loves her drink of warm water. But neither she nor my wether were there. They just peeked their heads out from their shelter when they heard me. It wasn't until I was inside the pen that they came out, and they were acting really skittish. Very weird behavior for both of them.
It got me thinking, I wonder what predators are true threats to Nigerian Dwarfs? I'm guessing what scared them was a stray dog, but I know we have foxes in our woods. Does anyone think that they might be a true threat to my goats?
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I would worry about coyotes or wolves, but most foxes are too small to go after a ND. However, if they were sick (distemper or rabies), they might not be thinking logically and attack, even though it's not realistic that they could kill and eat a full-grown goat.