Flat Creek Wool and Pottery Home of Icelandic Sheep, their wool, and the pottery they have inspired |
| Guard Animals |
We consider a guard animal a necessity where we live. We have coyotes in the
area that we hear quite often, and who doesn't have a problem with dogs running
loose? Then there are also the foxes that can snatch a newly born lamb, and I've
been told that certain buzzards and birds of prey will as well! Fortunately, we
have not experienced any losses due to predators, but I credit that to our guard,
Rosco.
We considered a variety of guard animals from Llamas to Donkeys, to other
breeds of dogs. While they all have great attributes, we decided upon a Great
Pyrenees pup that was being raised with livestock as our choice of protection
from predators.
Pyrenees work the best in pairs, where one will
stay and guard the livestock while the other
goes to the predator to defend the livestock.
We are possibly 'under-staffed', as we are
operating with one dog. It would be unfair to
expect him to fight off a pack of dogs, or coyotes,
while guarding the sheep at the same time.
We do put some trust in our fencing to help with predator control. There are
times when the fence has not been working properly, but our Rosco has never been
off duty.
(well, not without appointing
someone else to take over so he
can get a little rest)
We got Rosco when he was a young pup, and although we didn't expect him to be
guarding right away, we did see very early on that he packed quite a bark.
What has really been great for us is that he took to his job very naturally.
When we brought him home as a pup, he was put in with our sheep and that's
where he's stayed. That's been his training - living with the sheep full time.
It's been an experience to watch him mature, and amazing to see how he just does
what he's supposed to do.
There are a lot of great choices out there for guard animals.
If you have sheep without a guard, you understand that old saying
"if you can't sleep, count sheep!"
I spent many nights, checking to make sure,
that in the wee hours- every sheep's accounted for.
I sleep much better now that we have Rosco watching the sheep for us.
He is priceless.
area that we hear quite often, and who doesn't have a problem with dogs running
loose? Then there are also the foxes that can snatch a newly born lamb, and I've
been told that certain buzzards and birds of prey will as well! Fortunately, we
have not experienced any losses due to predators, but I credit that to our guard,
Rosco.
We considered a variety of guard animals from Llamas to Donkeys, to other
breeds of dogs. While they all have great attributes, we decided upon a Great
Pyrenees pup that was being raised with livestock as our choice of protection
from predators.
Pyrenees work the best in pairs, where one will
stay and guard the livestock while the other
goes to the predator to defend the livestock.
We are possibly 'under-staffed', as we are
operating with one dog. It would be unfair to
expect him to fight off a pack of dogs, or coyotes,
while guarding the sheep at the same time.
We do put some trust in our fencing to help with predator control. There are
times when the fence has not been working properly, but our Rosco has never been
off duty.
(well, not without appointing
someone else to take over so he
can get a little rest)
We got Rosco when he was a young pup, and although we didn't expect him to be
guarding right away, we did see very early on that he packed quite a bark.
What has really been great for us is that he took to his job very naturally.
When we brought him home as a pup, he was put in with our sheep and that's
where he's stayed. That's been his training - living with the sheep full time.
It's been an experience to watch him mature, and amazing to see how he just does
what he's supposed to do.
There are a lot of great choices out there for guard animals.
If you have sheep without a guard, you understand that old saying
"if you can't sleep, count sheep!"
I spent many nights, checking to make sure,
that in the wee hours- every sheep's accounted for.
I sleep much better now that we have Rosco watching the sheep for us.
He is priceless.
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