Written by Roger Pond who writes "The Back Forty" a regular humor column our paper carries.
Dear Mr Pond,
We recently moved to the country and bought some sheep.There are lots of coyotes around, and I've read some coyotes will kill sheep if there aren't enough rodents around, or the weather is bad, or the individual coyote is mad about something. Is this true?
Signed, Sheepish
Dear Sheepish,
I am happy you mentioned that "some" coyotes will kill sheep. We must constantly remind ourselves we are not talking about all coyotes. Only bad coyotes do this sort of thing.
Several things can cause a coyote to go bad. First he must be big enough to go bad. If the coyote is too small the sheep will just laugh at him.
This becomes part of the problem when the little coyotes grow up. There would be more sheep alive today if they hadn't laughed at the little coyotes.
The best thing a sheep owner can do is teach her sheep to remain as serious as possible. This isn't easy, as sheep seem to be born with a smirk on their face.
