Do you close livestock up at night?

[Nora]

Do you close up your livestock at night in order to protect them from predators and vandals? Do they stay free roaming? I'm curious as to what routine others use. Another thread sparked this question for me. My chickens go up at night and I lock them in their coop. I lock my turkeys up too. Both my chickens and turkeys come when called. My guinea fowl couldn't care less about their special made coop and aren't about to be rounded up. They do their own thing. I'm more particular with some animals because they have more predators than others in my area.

 

[Digger]

I lock all of mine up at night, including the barn cats. We have wolves and coyotes around here and they are relentless hunters. I almost lost an entire tribe of goats before I realized what was getting them at night.

 

[leon]

We always lock up ours because shelter not only keeps away the predators, but it also helps the livestock to cope with varying climatic extremes and also increases their productivity!

 

[Desi]

We do put the chickens and rooster in a pen. The cows are free to roam in the pasture or to go in the barn. We have never had any problems with coyotes.

 

[Kathy]

We lock ours up at night, too. In winter, it helps them stay warmer. We also worry about predators and feel more secure when everyone is protected by shelter.

 

[Rosebud]

We, too, close up our livestock at night. It is just a habit. We have fencing that helps protect them against predators, but we feel better with our animals being in an enclosed barn when it gets dark out.

 

[Trubadour]

If a wild animal is hungry enough, they'll go after anything. Including animals they typically wouldn't mess around with. The more expensive a stock is, the more secure they need to be.

 

[Andrew T]

We lock up our livestock up at night, too. It gets so cold at night during the winter months. I worry that if I let our animals roam, they would freeze to death. In summer, I worry more about our animals being attacked by predators.