Mystery muder...

[OccamsTazer]

Something killed the neighbor's baby goat in broad daylight! My guineas have been super agitated the last couple days, this just confirms that something is up. Baby goat's throat was torn, but it was not eaten. I'm thinking coyote, and the neighborhood dogs ran it off before it could eat any. We've heard coyotes in the woods a lot lately.
There is a pack of ~8 large dogs that belong to several neighbors (but the dogs get together in the daytime and hang out lol), and I just don't think they did it, they're super friendly and always get along with everyone's livestock.
I'm worried about my birds tonight! I will definitely be on alert :-(

 

[PortageGirl]

My first impulse is dogs. They kill and leave dead things to rot more often than coyotes. Just because the dogs look friendly most of the time, it doesn't mean one didn't -trigger- on the goat playing or running around, then a couple more join in the 'fun' which almost always gets out of hand.

If your hens are locked up tight at night in a good coop, they should be safe from most things large enough to kill a goat, even a kid.

Not sure about your area, and coyotes get different habits in different areas, but here they rarely hunt in broad daylight. I see them here at dusk, or just before dusk in the late afternoon at the earliest.

 

[OccamsTazer]

Yeah my first impulse was dogs too, but these guys are trustworthy. They spend all day every day snoozing in the sun, sometimes in with the goats, sometimes not. I've seen newborn kids gnawing on the dogs's ears and they just placidly tolerate it.
Still, like you said, something might have triggered one of them.
Dunno...worrisome either way :-/