Is A Livestock Guardian Dog for You?

   Sasha is 6 years old.  She and her brother, Alexi, are my Livestock Guard Dogs (LGD).  When I brought home my alpacas 6 years ago I did a years worth of research before making the jump.  Along with the research was the investment.  I did not want to bring home my breeder only to have the wildlife from the neighbor forest come snatch them away from me and my $$ with them.  Some form of security and protection was in order.  This is where a friend recommended an LGD.  While I had heard of a Great Pyrenees, I had never really paid any attention to what kind of dog it was.  Thus began the next subject of research.

Sasha              

Alexi                                  

 Up until this point a Great Pyr was the only kind of guard dog I knew about.  While looking through the local classifieds paper I came across an ad for LGD puppies.  She didn't specify what kind of guard dogs they were but I enquired and was then introduced to Anatolian Shepherds and Akbash.  I started researching more breeds and loved what I was seeing.  I also saw that these dogs where not for the faint of heart.  They are strong-willed and like to think on their own.  This is their strength! They can handle the situation without you calling the shots!  That also means that they probably aren't going to come when you call.  I recommend starting with this book: http://www.amazon.com/Livestock-Protection-Dogs-Selection-Training/dp/1577790626/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377312423&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=livestock+guardian+dog+sign
 This book does a great job of explaining the breeds, the traits and things you should look for as you search for a working guard dog.  

I read and re-read this book all the time.  Now, with Sasha due with puppies in two weeks, I find myself reading it again.  I have had several inquiries as to the availability of her pups and I refuse to count them before they are born.  I would not have bred her without my own good reasons and without other parties interested but who can say how many there will be or, even with an ultrasound, how healthy they will be?  What I want to say is, do your research.  Understand that these are not lap dogs.  Well, they could be: 
                         But it's a tight fit.  

  I really want people to understand what these dogs are and how well they work with keeping the balance between predators and livestock.  I also want people to understand what these dogs are not.  They are not herding dogs, they are not there to do tricks.  They are gentle giants and will protect whatever is important to you.  They are not for people with small yards.  They may also protect your neighbors things whether your neighbor likes it or not.

      My dogs get locked in the barn with my alpacas at night.  This gives me peace of mind on several levels.  Alexi is very protective of the baby's.  He has a very particular bark when one of my mammas is giving birth that has alerted me to the event more than once when otherwise I would have missed it.  They have big voices.  Nothing wants to come near my barn with those dogs inside.  This also means my dogs very rarely bark at night.  These dogs use their voice as part of marking their territory.  Keep this in mind if you are going to have them out with your flock at night and your neighbors are nearby. 

   As big dogs this also means that their life span is only about 10-12 years.  They are also slow to mature.   They have a long teenage stage before they really settle into business.  You cannot expect to get a young pup and just throw them into the pasture and expect them to go to it.  It helps if there is a more mature dog there to show the ropes and you need to be nearby for the first little bit while the chain of command is established.  My alpacas make no bones about letting the dogs know that they are not welcome to just push their way in and as a result my dogs are careful to skirt around them when they get rambunctious.  With their lifespan in mind and also understanding that my dogs are very reluctant to let other dogs near, they are seen as a potential threat, is why I chose to breed Sasha.  I chose another, proven, working dog to be the father.  At 6 Sasha is well established in her roll and in the prime of her life.  It is my hope that by the time she is feeling her age and ready to retire her offspring will be in a good place to take over.  

Right now she is definitely feeling the tired all moms feel toward the end of their pregnancies.  We are all really looking forward to this next adventure.  If you're interested in a livestock guard dog I do hope you will research them before bringing one home.  There are shelters that would be more than willing to help educate you and place a dog with you if starting from puppyhood is not in your interests.  

  For me, having these dogs means that I can drive away and feel confident that all will be well when I come back.  I brought poultry in to the ranch after the dogs were established here and while Alexi still cannot be entirely trusted not to make sport with them Sasha sees them as objects to be guarded too.  It took some time to get to that point.  Now that she is trusted she has freedom to roam more freely on our property and since then I have not suffered any losses from preditors.  For a while before that the coyotes used to come up bold as brass in daylight looking for an easy meal and knowing that the dogs where in the fenced area.  They do not come near now.  Sasha is on duty.

Homeschool Flexibility

  Today was the first day of school for the kids in the district where I live.  I can't help but feel sorry for them.  It's hot.  It's still August.  There is a fire nearby and the air is thick with smoke making it feel warmer than it is and breathing is something to avoid if you can.  Everyday I find a new reason, or the same reason over again, for loving that I homeschool.  We aren't without structure to our day but there is always room for flexibility.  This is not something you get when you are on the schools schedule.  If you miss a day of school it may take a week to catch up with what you missed.  The school district will start breathing down your throat for too many missed days ($$$$).

  Today I found a deal on line that I did not want to miss so my kids had their chores and reading books and I took off to claim my find.  I came home and chores are done, and reading is done and they are ready for the more assisted part of their studies.  It has taken years to get to this point but here we are.  You see? Flexibility.  I have never sent my kids to "regular" school.  I don't even want to think about the ways our life would be constricted by needing to conform to such a rigid and redundant schedule.  I love catering to the mood, the weather, the season, or outside the family event.  This week we have friends moving.  This doesn't mean school doesn't happen, it means we will focus on the subjects we can accomplish the first part of the day before heading over to help pack and move them.  We will catch up on the subjects that take more time and focus next week.  We also take advantage of car time, with clip boards and pencils in hand, so there is no dead time.  If the writing is too difficult on the windy roads there are also books on tape which is how we manage quite a few of the classics.

  I could list the many reasons I homeschool, there are a bazzilion of them and they are all equally valid, but I think over all the lifestyle we enjoy must be in the top ten reasons.

  I am not a very organized person.  I am not a teacher by my education.  I am mostly responsible.  There are days I really just muddle through.  I do know how to use the library as a resource.  I do look to other more experienced, and obviously successful, homeschool moms when I get stuck.  With all that in mind, let me walk you through a typical day at Haven Ridge:

Sun-up: out to the barn.  Feed, water, scoop poop for the animals.  The kids don't have to do this but if they want any kind of allowance they do.

When the animals needs are met we head in for our own needs.  My oldest (14) usually makes stove top oatmeal for us.  I get coffee, wash up, check email.

Morning list:  This "list" is all the regular things the kids need to do daily but I got tired of listing it all out for them.  This includes making the bed, getting dressed, brushing teeth and hair, practicing their musical instruments (like how I slide music in there?) and then one chore.  The chore changes with the day of the week. M-laundry T-pick up and vacuum living room W-clean their bathroom Th-work with thier 4-H animals F-clean room.  By three of them touching these things once a week it keeps them from getting out of control.

On a regular stay home day this is where the reading, writing and arithmetic comes in.  Get in and get it done.  Some days they go to a homeschool group for extra lessons.  Tuesday afternoons and evenings they have music lessons, gymnastics and karate.  Other days depending on the week we are very active in our 4-H club.  I use this as part of our curriculum.

If the kids get their work done in a timely manner they are allowed tech/screen time between 7-9.  That is all.  I have learned that the more screen time allowed the less respectful they are to authority.  They get two hours.  They can game, catch up on a recorded show or chat with a friend but at 9 it's back to the real world.  There a exceptions to this for research purposes, papers to write or ebooks but I make sure they always have a paper book available.  

Bed.  Because Sun-up is always earlier than you wish it was.

Sometimes my husband works weekends and has a weekday off.  Flexibility again!  We still get our daddy time because we will just change our schedule with his.  It is one of the best things that my husband does not have to miss time with his kids because they have to go to school.

I could talk about the failures of the school system, inefficient teaching, out of control students, immunization requirements, food allergies, safety, ridiculous rules, violence in schools and on buses, bullying, clothing requirements, potty language. . . . . . . . . . What it comes down to is that the ability to live our lives without someone else telling us when and where we need to be is the primary reason we do what we do.  By doing that we are also able to focus our kids education toward their interests.  They learn more when they are actually interested in the subject than when it is being crammed down their throat because this is what they are supposed to be learning at this grade level.  Did that method work for you?

If you feel trapped by the mandated school schedule consider some of the variety of ways there are available now to bring your kids home.  

Summer 2013

    As usual life keeps on moving and when I sit down all I want to do is sleep.  So many things are always in progress here on the ranch and we have half a dozen projects all half done.  Usually we have a shortage of either labor or cash.  This is normal.  I consider it progress if I can just touch one or two of these projects a day.  

On the list of To-Do's:

1) Finish the new fowl hut, lovingly christened, "Wingchester Mystery Mansion"

2) We were donated a great little storage shed.  This will be the new "Bunny Barn". It needs to have the interior built for the purpose of keeping bunnies (think meat, not pets) and moved to a level, more permanent place.

3) The garden never really happened for us this year.  The volunteers are out there and they are doing their best but they came up too late for our short season.  We water them and tend them the best we can with good intentions to do better next year.  This  years hold up was a combination of busy and the Bobcat was broken so moving manure was a tedious task.  Some very dear friends with different resources than we have graciously took the bobcat and are fixing it. We hope it will be home soon and are so glad to have that taken off our plate.

4) the future fodder container, "My Fodders Fortune" is a more pressing task now.  I had to let the fodder in the other space be dry during June's heat because it was all spoiling.  Rather than wasting it I am trying to get the new space going where I will have more control and easier access this winter.  

  But why have we been so busy?  What's so different this year than other years?  This year we took on shearing our alpacas and some neighboring alpaca owners ourselves.  It was not a one day and we're done event.  It took all the way till last week!  It was getting just a few done on weekends when we were both home and learning, and getting the right tools and learning about the wrong tools.  It was done between AT&T overtime, military weekends, county fair, state fair, bad weather, and even good but too hot weather, and we would do it now but we are waiting for our blades to come back from the sharpeners.  What else can I say?  It will be better next year!  Next year we will have all our tools, all our experience, and be able to start sooner.  Next year will be great.

  So.  On to current events!  We had one, beautiful, healthy cria this year.  His name is Noah.  He is light fawn and son of Reighnee and Barrett.  He is for sale but in the mean time we are working with him to be hands on friendly and a good 4-H boy.  My other thoughts for him is that he does have good stud potential. Nice coat, good conformation, great temperament.  

  Our LGD is expecting! We bred Sasha with our neighboring ranch's Great Pyr, Jake.  http://quartzridgeranch.wordpress.com/2013/02/20/jakes-photo-shoot/We expect puppies the first week of September.  This was not something we did without quite a bit of thought.  It came down to a few key points: my dogs are 6 years old and it can take two to three years for a new LGD to settle in.  The best way to train a new pup is to put them with an older, more experienced dog.  My dogs are not that great at letting new animals into their territory so I am hoping that since it will be one of her pups that will solve that.  I talked with other breeders and discussed my concerns, wanting to be responsible about breeding, and they all agreed my reasons for breeding and not rescuing were valid.  Also rescues can be risks as working dogs.  Just because they are a certain breed does not mean they are going to work.  By breeding with parents that are proven workers we have a better chance of getting those good instincts in the gene pool.  

  This will be my first time with puppies so I am very occupied reading and researching so that I do right for my dogs needs and her babies.  I do have a list of folks with puppy reservations but until they are hear and healthy we won't make any promises.  If you are interested I can put your name on the list, first come first serve.  Couple things to keep in mind when you are thinking about an LGD.  These are not typical Lab type dogs.  They are strong willed.  They have a long "teenage" stage.  You need to establish yourself as alpha.  You need to make sure they submit to you in every way including their food which can be an issue.  If I give my dog a bone I make him give it back several times before I let him have it just to remind him whose boss.  I love these dogs and all that they do to give me peace of mind because I can't be on guard duty all the time.  It is totally worth the time to keep their behavior in check so that there are no issues.  I cannot stress enough how important it is to do your own research before taking on an LGD.  You don't want to bring one of these dogs in to your ranch and set them up for failure.  DO NOT listen to anyone that tells you not to train these dogs and just let their instincts work.  An untrained dog is a nightmare for everyone.  They don't have to do circus tricks just the basics, leash, sit, lay down, no, come. (good luck with "come"). These are big dogs.  Sasha weighs 90 lbs but her brother weighs 140 lbs.  Not dogs that you want to disrespect you or your family.  I spent 15-20 minutes a day when I brought them home walking the property boundaries and teaching basic sit, stay, come so that my dogs were good guardians and not liability risks.

It's August and I see winter looming around the corner.  The squirrels seem to be working overtime and the acorns are in abundance on the ground.  The last year that happened we had a very cold, snowy winter.  Following the example the squirrels are giving we are working hard to fill up the wood bin,  fill the seams of the house and make other winter preparations.  I find living out here much like the fable of The Ant and the Grasshopper.  Those that don't prepare usually find themselves in a bad place come January.  

  There are all the regular comings and goings of summer months.  We have jammed and canned, participated in the county and State fair, raised and butchered our meat chickens for the year, participate weekly at our local farmers market selling yarn, and the general management that comes from having livestock.  My oldest is contemplating raising a market steer for 4-H this year.  We will also be involved with fiber arts, making a blanket for the Linus project, auto mechanics, alpaca, poultry, and geology.

  That brings this ranch blog current.  School studies are about to pick up again.  Our work is laid out for us.  My goal this year is to make quick posts here and keep things up to date.  We will follow Sasha's pregnancy, some of the 4-h projects, and the progress on the new poultry coop and bunny barn.  It will be a very exciting season!

Fodder and Other Summer Adventures

A whole season has passed me by without a word out there about summer at Haven Ridge.  That is because it is busy and when I sit down to type I'm so tired, the motivation isn't there.  

  We had two crias born this summer, 
 Peninah was born June 11th to our own ReignEllan.

Augustus was born August 3rd to April Snow.

In the mist of these beautiful babies our summer has been filled with the efforts of gardening and the joys of adding geese to our little ranch as well.  Pilgrim geese to be specific.  These guys a very docile and social fowl that have quickly made a place in our hearts.  They greet us when we come out and alert us if there is something out of the ordinary.  

I have not had to mow the grass all summer long! 

Pilgrim geese are the only auto sex goose, females being gray and males white.  Seen here is Millie, Marha, Sophie and D'Artanian.

This summer has met us with a number of challenges.  The top most has been the matter of hay, the availability of it as well as the price.  Our usual supplier came up short- in many ways. Other suppliers have orchard grass for a premium price regardless of quality.  This led us on a quest of finding quality feed at a price that didn't compromise the nutrition of my animals.  Equally frustrating is finding a grower that is dependable.  We are not in an environment that supports growing our own not could we grow the quantity needed year after year.  This brings us to the Fodder systems, sprouting barley seeds hydroponically.  There are a number of commercially available systems available that litterally have a "plug and play" start up.  You plug in power and water, put in your seed and in seven days you have a tray of sprouted barley that the animals love, roots, seed, grass and all.  They get fresh feed that is higher in nutrients because they are getting the whole plant including he roots.   Unfortunately these systems have a high price for start up.  It would pay for itself within the first year but I don't have that kind of capital.  We did our research and combined information with our neighboring ranch, dealing with the same difficulties, to find the DIY solution.  

We bought the grow trays from Amazon.  I consider them too flimsy and we are working on a solute to that but for now they are sufficient.   We set up in our current greenhouse both for light and for the existing water system.  Then we started our trials.  

First lesson is that quality, clean barley is ideal.  Stuff that is full of chaff is difficult to rinse and encourages mildew.

We started. With seed from a local nursery but this wasn't good for our bulk needs and the quality, while pure, wasn't clean.  Then I tried the local growers association.  They came up with a clean organic seed but in efforts to try and get the cost a little lower we tried a local mill.  This was the most disappointing because while the tag said 100% barley there was other seed in the bag.  When the mill was questioned they said it was just what was on the conveyor belt and it couldn't be avoided.  This really isn't good enough because the growth from this seed was the worst with mold.  So back to the growers association we go.

Next was light.  It doesn't need much light and it doesn't need a grow light but a light does give more growth in a shorter time.  We found an LED flood light that we put on a light sensor works well.  I saw no appreciable increase in our electric bill and the light comes on at dusk and off at dawn.  Perfect.

Heat.  Barley is a cold weather crop.  This has been the most difficult hurdle to overcome.  When the temps go over 80 fermentation happens.  Not good and hard to control in a greenhouse that is not temperature controlled.  When the weather is in the 70's is when we have the greatest success but as soon as the temps go up growing all but stops and it starts to smell like a brewery.  This means that in our current growing space we can only do this process in early spring and fall.  Summer is too hot and winter will freeze.  What next?

Next will be the ebb and flow system in an insulated, climate controlled area.  Nothing fancy, just the make shift storage area that is tacked on to the back of the studio house.  We didn't build it there but there it is with insulation and water easily installed.  The ebb and flow system is a vacuum that fills the tray to a set level and then sucks the water back out and repeat.  This can work right out of a barrel of water that can be used and reused keeping water usage at a minimum.  The light will have to run full time but again, with LED tech and no need for grow lights this does not figure in any appreciable costs.  It should be mentioned that we are on a well so our first efforts of water were left to drain out on their own.  We are still in the process of getting this set up so there will be more later and pictures to boot.

There are a lot of Internet resources that we used to research what we have so far but the one that really helped push me is the blog from Paca Pride http://pacapride.wordpress.com/2012/04/05/from-seed-to-feed-in-8-days-barley-fodder-sprouting-trials/

I really appreciate his willingness to share his own trials and errors and offer support to us as well.  They too a doing this themselves without the aide of a prebuilt system.  

I realize that this process takes a few extra minutes every day to keep the system going but the math is impressive.  If you figure a pound and a half of seed per tray = about 4-5 pounds of feed and a pound of barley runs about .64 cents depending on where you buy. 

I also realize that this is not the most self-reliant method.  I am still relying on someone else to supply the seed.  I do have control over the quality of the seed I buy and I am still feeding fresh grass over dried and I will be able to feed this all winter.  I can also add extra seed to the trays for different feed needs.  I will be doing one set of trays just for the geese that will be wheat rather than barley, I add flax seed to the barley as well to add extra omega 3.  This also gets feed to my layer flock so I benefit from any extra nutrients I supply them as well.  

Never feed moldy food to your flock but when my fodder does start to ferment I do feed that to the chickens.  Fermentation can actually benefit their digestive system and then I also never feel that a trial was "wasted".