Our Livestock Guardians
We utilize both a llama and a guardian dog to protect our sheep from predators. We live in an area that is rich with wildlife and predatory animals, including coyotes, cougar and bald and golden eagles. All pose serious threats to our sheep and lambs.
Dolly Llama the Sheeep Guardian
Dolly is a llama in her teen years, we gave her a home after her previous owner wasn't able to care for her anymore. She is helpful in guarding the sheep, she is very bonded to the flock, alert to and quite aggressive towards threats. Research has shown llamas to be very effective sheep flock guardians. But, we found Dolly was still no match for the heavy coyote presence we have in the valley. Though she chases dogs and appears quite intimidating at first, our dogs, and also the coyotes, eventually figured out that they could ignore her. We started having coyote kills during the night, so had to step up to a Livestock Guardian Dog (LGD).
"Bronte" the Maremma
We bought Bronte from a friend who also raises Katahdin sheep. The Maremmano-Abruzzese breed traces back over two thousand years in Italy, bred for the sole purpose of livestock guarding. This breed is not AKC register-able and is not shown or exhibited in the U.S.- their only use, to this day, is guardianship.
They are equipped with a heavy double coat, which keeps them warm and comfortable in extreme winter weather. But their white color and seasonal shedding allows them to still stay relatively cool in the heat of the summer. Maremmas are large, typically weighing over 100 pounds.
Good LGDs are Both Born and Made
Domestic dogs are generally quite malleable, adjusting to whatever environment in which they are born and raised, and bonding to whichever social groups are available to them. That's why dogs generally make such fine companions to people, as their natural instinct to bond with other dogs easily transfers to bonding with humans instead. Maremmas are traditionally whelped in a barn with sheep and lambs, and initially raised away from humans and other dogs, so that their primary bond is with their sheep flock. They have strong inborn guarding tendencies, but also enjoy snoozing much of the day! Our dog is no exception to this rule, and though she enjoys visits from us and our other dogs, she prefers the constant company of the sheep flock. She becomes very distressed if kept away from the sheep. And though she's tall enough to easily vault the fences, she would never abandon her sheep, and instead chooses to lay near them most of the day and night.
Maremmas Are Not Pets...
It is strongly recommended that Maremmas never be kept as pets, as their guarding tendencies, large size, heavy coat, and need for space and a job make them a training and management challenge outside of a working environment. Bronte is also a testament to this reality: she is a chewer, a digger, a barker, a threat to strangers who come on our property, and very rough at play. While she does well in a large pasture where she can entertain herself all day by digging up and eating rodents and barking at threats, she would be quite unmanageable in the house as a pet! You can read more about the breed at the Maremma Sheepdog Club of America site.
People often inquire about Bronte, expressing concern for her welfare, living in the pasture with sheep as her main source of companionship. We get a lot of funny questions, like "how do you feed her?" or "isn't she lonlely?" It is a different mindset to get used to the lifestyle of an LGD, compared to the pet breeds which we're accustomed to having as family companions in the house. But, Bronte is actually very happy in her element, she is made to do this job, descending from hundreds of generations of stock selected for their independence, hardiness, and guarding instincts and traits. She does have a dog house with straw bedding (but she rarely uses it), and of course, water and daily food and visits. This seems to be all she requires, she takes her job seriously, and thrives doing her work in the sun, rain, and snow in her big pasture.
The Ultimate Protection for Sheep and Goats
Small ruminants are very vulnerable to predators, they have no defense mechanisms and are easy for even a thirty pound coyote to kill and eat. Eagles find it's trivial to pick up ten pound lambs, and cougars can haul a whole sheep or goat over a fence and into a tree in order to dine on it. Loose-running domestic dogs are also a huge threat to small ruminant herds. Predator loss is the #1 reason farmers abandon ranching sheep and goats in the U.S. - so guardian animals are a critical component to success.
Bronte has been an excellent deterrent to coyotes, and we have seen her chasing them along the fence line when they've tried to approach the pasture. Her bark and physical size is enough to shoo most people and animals away from the pastures where she dwells. She is worth her weight in gold for the job she does in protecting our farm assets! And she seems to love what she does.